Hunter with a Divine Third
by Yorae Rasante
Summary: A certain goddess of childbirth once helped a couple that had problems with that area. However, as a consequence, the son ended with a third parent... and a divine third. This unlikely mix will affect the destiny of more than one world. Also a cross with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (with a small bit of Chrono Cross).
1. Meeting the Godmother

**So… I read Son of the Huntress. I also am playing Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.**

 **And I was a bit disappointed no one ever made a Percy Jackson x Monster Hunter cross.**

 **I also read a Percy Jackson cross, not sure anymore if it was Harry Potter or Naruto, once where the main character was born out of** _ **both**_ **parents thanks to Athena being able to birth people from her mind.**

 **I admit not having read enough the books yet to make an original Percy Jackson x Monster Hunter story, but with a crossover with another as a medium…**

 **So the idea is, Artemis, also known as one of the greek goddesses of childbirth, helps Minato and Kushina when they can't have Naruto. But, as a consequence, he is in part son of Artemis (without losing his original parentage with either of them), basically making him a third divine (there are precedents, Gilgamesh was** _ **two**_ **thirds, even if he was given no explanation). This has consequences, among them giving him a Palico summon and the ability to visit the Monster Hunter world** **.  
Yes, this does change the Gaara fight greatly. I will show it in a flashback eventualy.**

IIIII

The woman was surrounded. And judging by the kind of people those were, they were not planning something that would be fun for her.

That was a band of bandits, together with some runaway ninjas. Some of them clealy high-level to anyone that could sense chakra, maybe even jounin.

But... she wasn't worried.

For one reason, she had no idea what that meant. She was new to the Elemental Countries, you see.

For the other… she had yet to meet a mortal that could hurt her unless she let them.

"Well, lady, it seems like you are in trouble. Why don't you come with us?"

"No thank you. I have my own business to take care of."

She said it like they were no problem for her. Her dismissing tone clearly set them off though, the bandits getting furious.

"Well, we gave you a chance. Let's see how you like our fun now."

The woman started feeling dirty with the man's hungry leer over her body. She would enjoy teaching them a lesson in respect—

"Oh, we are gonna have fun? Can I join?" sounded a happy female voice from a nearby tree.

On top of the tree stood a woman with long red hair, and a happy smile.

A woman that made the ninjas in the group blanch on sight.

"It's the Blood Red Habanero!" one of them screamed, and started trying to run away, before being stopped by another.

"She is alone, idiot!" the other said. "She can't be that strong if the Yellow Flash is always with her. Now we can use her as a hostage and be known for defeating him!"

The outsider just blinked in confusion, before looking at the red-haired woman, seeing her smile was really strained now.

"Yeah, you're right! Haha, bring it on, bit—"

The bandits had no idea what happened. Hell, most of the missing nin had no idea either. One second they were looking at the woman in the tree, the next a red blur hit the talking man, making him vomit blood, and threw him on at least three others.

The outsider, meanwhile, just blinked. She had no idea mortals could move like that.  
Oh yes, she saw everything. That does not mean it was not a surprise.

She saw a sai-like knife hitting the ground beside her, but it held no hostility so she did not even react.

She _did_ jump in surprise when a man appeared in a yellow flash from it though.  
…must be the one the bandits were talking about.

He had spiky yellow hair, blue eyes, a pink apron and thermic gloves, holding a pot of some kind of hot soup and a stack of bowls.

"Kushi-chan! I brought you ramen!" he said.

"In a minute Minato!" the red-head replied.

And if it was possible her attacks became even more ferocious. The outsider resisted the urge to shiver, it seemed that the woman _still_ wasn't giving her all. She had a suspicion that if she did the men would not survive.

Not that she cared if they did or not.

IIIII

After the "battle", the two invited the outsider to dine with them.

The man, Minato, seemed honourable, but reserved. The woman, Kushina, was energetic and seemed overly happy.

They both seemed to either trust her or dismiss her as a danger, though. And since she saw the woman fighting and the others seemed to think the man was the most dangerous of the two, she doubted it was the later.

"So… are you a samurai or something?" Kushina asked, intruding on her thoughts. "I mean, you move like you can fight, but I barely sense any chakra from you."

"My name is Artemis. I am a goddess," she said, awaiting the answer from her hosts.

The common answers were disbelief, or worship. Disbelief came in many flavors, from laughter to trying to take her to a mental hospital to asking for proof.

Being asked which one as if it was normal to meet them was new, though.

"Um, I am not a _local_ goddess, my name is Artemis. I come from another land in search of an enemy that escaped here."

"Well, be careful not to mess with the local ones' business much. I only know the Shinigami personally due to my family being able to summon it, but I wouldn't want any one as my enemy," said Kushina. "But again, you are also one, so it may not be that big of a problem for you."

"Oh, so you know a local deity?"

"Yes, we should go to the Mask Temple near Konoha, so you can ask him what you want to do. As long as you are not trying to mess with their business there shouldn't be any problem."

"Oh… ok, good idea," Artemis said, totally out of her depth. She looked at Minato only to see him staring at her, as if racking his brain for something.

"Something wrong?"

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Minato apologized. "But, are you a goddess of Nature? I'm still learning Sage Mode, but I can feel a lot of Nature Energy coming from you…"

"Yes, in a way. In my land I am the goddess of the hunt, the animals, the wilderness, the moon, the chastity and sort of of childbirth—"

"DID YOU SAY CHILDBIRTH?"

Artemis resisted the urge to jump back from the look Kushina was giving her. Barely.

There was worship, then there was looking at her like she was her personal savior.

"I'm sorry for that," said Minato, but Artemis couldn't avoid looking at her eyes. "There was a battle incident, Kushina can't have children anymore, and her dream was of us having a child…"

"Even Tsunade, the best doctor of the Elemental Nations, could not heal me… but you…"

"I-I'm not sure if I can—"

"We are going to get you permission right now!" Kushina said, grabbing Artemis in her arms and running away with her in a direction Artemis hoped was this Mask Temple.

Then she blinked as a flash appeared beside her, and Minato joined the run.

"Er… Kushina—"

"Minato, Hiraishin to temple. Now!"

"Yes dear."

IIIII

In the end, it wasn't that Artemis didn't have permission (although the Shinigami was amused enough when it was asked), but because she never did it before. She was a childbirth goddess because she helped her brother be born, but never actually made anyone pregnant with divine power.

Kushina's answer of there being always a first time didn't fill her with confidence.

"Ok, I will try. But I want to make it clear, I have no idea what may happen to the child. It may be… a third god or something."

"We are ready." Kushina said, seriously.

"I—"

"We are _**ready**_ ," Kushina interrupted Minato, who wisely decided to keep quiet from then on.

Artemis shrugged, and put her hands on Kushina's belly. It glowed silver for a while, before the glow was absorbed by the mortal woman.

Kushina could _feel_ the energy. It was not healing her, but blessing her womb.

"It is done. From now on, you will get pregnant as long as you don't use protection, and your pregnancy and birthing will be easier than most," Artemis declared, seriously.

Only to be attacked by a hugging Kushina crying "thank you" repeteadly.

"You don't look happy, though," Minato said, a bit worried.

"Well, I _am_ a goddess of chastity too. This just feels… wrong for me."

Minato just nodded. What could you be said to that? It would be like the Shinigami acting as an accoucheur.

"Wait…" Kushina opened her eyes suddenly. "You said 'from now on'…"

Minato's eyes widened, as the redhead turned to him with a hungry look in hers.

With a resigned sigh, he pointed to a room nearby, "Artemis, this is our guest room. Do not worry, I will activate silence seals so you don't hear anything as long as Kushina doesn't break the wall again."

"No promises," sang the woman as she carried the man to their own room.

Artemis just looked, unsure of her own opinions about what just happened.

IIIII

Artemis visited Konoha, more specifically spent time with Kushina and Minato, for almost three months.

Well, more like she was kidnapped at night by a still grateful Kushina and a resigned Minato.

She was the first one they told of the pregnancy. She was there for their secret marriage. She was there when they chose that pig as the godfather (a title that made her snort) because he had been like a second father to Minato.

She was still surprised when a smiling Kushina held herself back from laughing when she asked her to be his godmother.

"…You do know that I am sort of his third parent, right?"

Kushina nodded.

"And you remember that I'm a goddess, right?"

Another nod.

"So…"

"It's the perfect title, isn't it? No one not in the known would figure out!"

Artemis sighed.

"Kushina, my hunt is almost over, and I'll soon have to go back to my land. I won't be able to meet Naruto when he is born."

"But you can come visit us later, right? Then you'll be able to see him."

That was the hard part to explain.

"There is a decree that forbids gods of my land to interact for long with their children. We can see them from time to time, but it is limited. I do not know if this will aply to Naruto, but if it does…

I will try to convince my father to make an exception," she said to the saddened Kushina, "but I won't be able to meet him until he manifests any powers I gave him either way. It usually happens when the child is around twelve years."

Kushina was still sad, but nodded.

"Well, guess he will have to live with only stories for a while. Of a wonderful woman that helped his parents be able to get him born."

IIIII

"Well, this is it. This is goodbye for now."

Only Kushina, Minato and Tsunade were there. Of the people who knew of Artemis identity, the only ones missing were the third Hokage and Jiraiya, since the Hokage was acting in Minato's place while he was there and Jiraiya…

Well, Artemis didn't get along with him.

The reason the old Hokage and the two sannin knew was that they were friends with the couple, and the only ones that knew Tsunade considered Kushina unable to have children. So they were forced to explain it.

Tsunade was _very_ curious about her brother Apolo, but unfortunately for her brother it was purely in a medical point of view, as he was the medicine patron.

"Do you promise to come back?"

"I told you guys, I will come when little Naruto is ready… So just wait for me, ok?"

"Twelve years… It may not be much for you, but for us it will be a lot…"

She then hugged the goddess.

Artemis hugged back. She hoped that when she returned to the Elemental Nations the couple would be there waiting for her.

Unfortunately, her instincts said otherwise, and as the goddess of the hunt she learned to trust them… She was not going to say it, but she knew this would be goodbye.

Kushina then drew a surprised Minato in the hug, and Artemis, despite her usual distrust of men, hugged him too. He had proven himself a loyal, wise and worthy person. He would be a great leader. Already was.

She then let go, and opened the passage back. She looked back, and with a smile and a wave went through it, never letting her gaze leave the two.

She really hoped she was wrong. That when she returned they would be there, waiting for her.

IIIII

Sometimes, Artemis hated being right.

She arrived and went to Konoha as soon as she was allowed. She had to see them, to convince herself she had been wrong.

She failed.

Minato and Kushina died the very day Naruto was born. By way of giant monster.

Monster that was sealed in Naruto, giving him a terrible childhood.

And now she was in a hospital room, together with Tsunade and Jiraiya, looking at the healing Naruto who was defeated in battle with a traitor he was trying to rescue.

"…Why the cat though?" she asked, looking right at a calico cat sitting besides the boy.

"That is Ace," Tsunade replied, with a bit of surprise.

Artemis was not in the mood, so just looked at her instead of asking for her to tell more.

"Wait, it wasn't you that gave him the Palico summon contract?" Jiraiya asked, surprised.

"I only know what a summon contract is because his father told me he signed yours, how could I give him any?"

Jiraiya rubbed his eyes, frustrated. "Well, there goes that theory."

Artemis was the one confused this time.

"When I made him sign the toad contract, he told me he could feel three chakras, his normal one, a red one that we believe is of the beast sealed inside him, and a silver one. Using the silver one to summon we got Ace there, and a summon contract to Palicos.  
Since they are supposedly hunter helpers, and the region they reverse-summon him to is called the Hunting Grounds, where he can't use his chakra for anything more than sealing scrolls so he has to trust his skills and instincts to survive, with a Hunters Guild as the closest thing he could tell of a government, we were pretty sure you were somehow the one that gave him the contract."

"I can certainly see why you'd think so… Maybe my domain affected him enough for him to be able to summon them when he used the powers he got from me," Artemis agreed, looking at the sleeping boy. He couldn't see the eyes, but the hair was clearly Minato's, while the face was pure Kushina save for the whisker birthmarks.

"So, what will you do now that you met him?" Tsunade asked, a bit worried for Naruto.

"He is of age to learn to use his powers. If he agrees, I am taking him to Camp Half-Blood so Chiron can teach him. Either way, I am telling him everything."

"You can't!" Jiraiya interrupted. "He is not mature enough to deal with it! And I already am taking him in a training trip!"

That was the wrong thing to say.

Artemis turned around, putting a hunting knife under Jiraiya's chin so fast even the two sannin barely saw her move.

"From what you told me he saved the village from a giant being that could destroy it easily, helped convince the new leader to accept her position and is currently lying in that bed because someone he trusted and risked his life to save turned out to be a traitor. Age is not the same as maturity.  
And who gave you the authority to take him on this training trip? Tsunade looked at you surprised, so she clearly did not."

"I am his godfather, it is my right to—"

"And I'm his godmother, and I say he can go only if _he_ agrees to go. If you are going to pull the godfather card, why did you leave him alone for twelve years? You already know I was only allowed to come now, and I didn't know what happened to his parents until minutes ago.  
And don't come with using your spy network or his father's enemies as an excuse. You could have just visited from time to time, and I can thing of excuses for why from the top of my head and I've only been here for less than half an hour."

"And why would he agree to go with you? He has no idea who you are, while I've trained him for months."

"Because I've not kept any secret from him nor pretended to be a stranger, and you did not deny anything I said even though you should have noticed he has been only pretending to sleep ever since we arrived."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, and he looked to the bed, meeting with Naruto's open eyes filled with sorrow and betrayal.  
Unable to stand them, he left the room.

The eyes then moved to Tsunade.

"I thought you were ready, but sensei had said he would only tell you if you made chunnin. Jiraiya asked me to let him tell you when he thought you were ready instead, since he is your godfather."

"So, it is true… he is my godfather, but he just… left me… and, acting as if he didn't even know me, then I had to convince him to help me…"

Tsunade cringed. She knew the theatrics were because Jiraiya was mostly ashamed of being away for so long and couldn't make himself face Naruto, but not only Artemis only saw the worst of him until now, meaning no help from her, Jiraiya's shame shutting him up made him seem like a manipulative bastard. And if she tried to defend him, Naruto would see it as taking his side.

"I will try to beat some sense into him, bring him back to see what he has to say in his defence. While I do it, why don't you two talk?  
Artemis, before you tell him about his parents, why don't you tell him about yourself?"

That said, she left them alone, ready to do her best to make Jiraiya try to apologize, with her fists if needed.

The two stood silent, Naruto wanting to listen, Artemis not knowing what to say.

"So… you said you had a reason for not coming back until now?" Naruto tried asking.

"Yes. You see, my father made a rule after a war. I was not allowed to meet you until now. Since I am from outside the Elemental Nations, and… well, I respect him despite everything wrong he did sometimes, I wasn't just able to come visit you in secret either."

Naruto nodded. That was an understandable reason…

"Now is the part you may not believe… I am not human."

Naruto blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I am more like the beings you from here refer to as Kami. In my land, I am known as the goddess of the Hunt, Animals, Wilderness, Moon, Chastity and Childbirth."

"…You're a Kami?"

"My land's equivalent to one."

Naruto just looked at her in disbelief for a bit.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, it's a bit much to take," he said, when he noticed he was just staring at her.

"Well, you sure are taking your time, but that's normal. Your parents accepting it outright were the weird ones."

"So… you met my parents?"

"Yes. I am the goddess of the Hunt, so I came here hunting something, it doesn't matter what anymore. Your parents arrived when some bandits wanted to attack me, not knowing what I am. Your mother had been damaged in the womb and couldn't have children, so I blessed her. She… didn't take no for becoming her friend after that…"

"Really? So if they didn't meet you I may have never been born?"

"Maybe. She could still get pregnant, but the chances were very low. I made the chance certain.  
But…"

"There's always a 'but'…" Naruto sighed.

"By blessing the womb, it became both a part of your mother and mine. So you do not have two parents… you have three. Making me your godmother was just a pun Kushina made."

Naruto's mind was reeling. He didn't care that it wasn't normal to have three parents, he had a living one! And Kushina, that was his mom's name?

"S-so, if you are also my parent, wouldn't that make me an exception to your father's rule?"

"You being my son is the _reason_ for my father's rule not letting me visit… Naruto, being the child of a god gives someone powers beyond normal humans… and that means you could be either a hero or a villain. There was a big war among half-gods, supposedly to impress their parents, and so my father made a rule limiting the contact between gods and their children. They couldn't meet until the child was able to use their godly powers, and even then only for a bit."

"Wouldn't that make them… I mean, us, more likely to try to impress them, though?"

"Well, it is more a punishment on the parent than on the children due to not being able to control their progeny, but the children are explained why it is so as soon as they are told what they are. This supposedly discourages them to trying a repeat so they aren't punished even more."

Naruto nodded in understanding. A bit bitter that a bunch of people ruined it for everyone though.

"There is a place where I come from made to teach people with divine progeny how to use their powers."

"That Camp Half-Blood place?"

"Yes. Demigods like you go there to learn how to use their powers and, hopefuly, become heroes.  
But, if you do not want to go there, I will not force you."

Naruto thought for a bit.

"I really want to become Hokage, Artemis-sama. At first to be recognized, but now to protect those precious to me.  
If you think these godly powers would help me do that, then I would be glad to do so."

"Great. Now, we just need to figure out a way to take you there and back. I used my divine powers to come here, and could do the same to take you there, but then I'd have to bring you back myself…"

"I can do it!" said Ace the cat.

Artemis blinked. Not because the cat was speaking, even if she couldn't speak with animals she knew summons could speak, but because of _what_ he was saying.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I and him are summon partners, so I can open a portal between here and other places. I need to have been there though, and it takes time. It's how I take him to the Hunting Grounds."

"Oh, perfect then," she said. "Speaking of that place, could you take me there one of these days? As I said, I am the goddess of the Hunt, so with a name like that…"

"Sure… but will you be able to use your powers there? I mean, I can't even use chakra," replied Naruto.

"I don't use my powers when hunting myself. I try to go with my skills with a bow and hunting knives."

"I use a Glaive myself," Naruto replied happily, "but I always wanted to try using a bow. But I'd need special armor for that, since long and short distance fighters use different kinds of armor there.

Hey, we could make a team! I heard that teams can be made of up to four people there!"

"That would be nice," Artemis said, while petting Ace.

"…Hey, want to sign the Palico Contract? From how Ace is acting to you, I think they'd be happy to join you."

"Well, Animals _is_ one of my domains… but sure, a Palico to send me there by myself would let me go even when we are apart."

Naruto looked at her surprised, then looked down.

"Ah, right. Won't be able to see each other much."

"Well… who knows. If the Hunting Grounds is out of Olympus' reach…"

Naruto replied with a mischievous smile that was obviously inherited from Kushina.

"Can you use chakra? It is sort of needed."

"Your parents taught me."

That reminded Naruto that Artemis knew his other two parents.

"Here you go," he said, summoning the contract as if it was a Palico. "You sign it on your blood, then cover your hand in a bit of it and mark it besides your name."

Artemis raised her eyebrow but did as told, cutting her hand with a hunting knife and writing her name and making a handprint with ichor. Then followed Naruto's instructions and summoned her own Palico.

It was pure white, and her tail had some turns making it lightning-shaped. She also had a black paw print mark on her chest.

"Selene?" Naruto asked.

The already-named Selene looked at Naruto and raised her hand in compliment, but soon looked back at Artemis.

Artemis herself was holding herself back from smirking. Really, her Palico is named _Selene_ of all names.

"Ah right, Selene this is Artemis, your new summoner. Artemis, this is Selene. She is a bit inexperienced, but everyone is at the beginning.

Do you mind holding back until I can go with you before leaving for the Hunting Grounds? I'd like to introduce you to my friends."

"No problem. So, anything more you'd like to talk about?"

Artemis saw Naruto struggling to remain calm.

"I'd like to know about my other parents," he finally asked.

IIIII

Naruto was quiet. Artemis had left for a bit, and he was thinking about what he learned.

His father was the Fourth Hokage. He put the Kyubi inside him not because he was an orphan, or because he had just been born, but because he was _his_ orphan.

His mother was the Hot Red Habanero, and, more importantly, the previous host of the Kyubi. And… the only way for the Kyubi to be in him was if she had died, since losing it would have killed her…

Which meant that the Kyubi did not just attack the village, but was released there. Artemis doubted it escaped during his birth since his mom had her blessing, so it was enemy action.

A knock on the door. Naruto asked them to enter, but soon regreted it. It was Tsunade with Jiraiya.

"Look, before you say anything," Tsunade interrupted him before he even opened his mouth, "we already know you'll probably be going to that camp. This is not to try to change your mind.

This is because you deserve an explanation, and Jiraiya will give you one whether he like it or not."

Put on the spot, the man breathed deeply.

"I am a completely irresponsible person and I know it, so I dumped you in sensei's lap under the excuse that he would be a better caretaker for you than I could ever be. I soon regretted it, but I was too ashamed of facing you after doing that. That's why I made the whole 'defeating your trainer and convince you to ask me for training' thing, I could not in good conscience just turn to you and admit my faults.

I know I got no right to call myself your godfather. I just hope that, someday, you could give me a chance to redeem myself."

Naruto didn't say something for a bit, letting Jiraiya fill himself with dread.

"I am not sure how long I will stay at the camp," he finally said. "If by the time it is over I already forgave you, then I will be able to stay with you until the camp's next turn.

If I do go to train with you, as long as I want to I'll go back to the camp as soon as it opens for the year. This is non-negotiable."

Jiraiya just nodded. That went better than he hoped.

IIIII

The following week Naruto was finally released from the hospital, but there was still a week before the camp was open for the summer.

Thus, he took Artemis on a tour through the Hunting Grounds.

She, they figured out as soon as they arrived, _could_ use her divine powers there, even stronger than usual even… but it woud not be as satisfying to hunt using them here.

First things first, he took her to meet his friends of the Capital C caravan. The Caravaneer quickly warmed up to her, telling her of the tale when Naruto risked his life to rescue his hat. He gave her the nickname of Friendly Archer after she told him her specialty.  
The Man and Little Miss Forge, being the first ones of their kind she met, were seen with curiosity, but the respected she showed for their art (of making equipment from monster remains for huntin more powerful monsters) got her a rare smile from the quiet wyverian.  
The Guildmarm and the Wycoon made her take a step back though. The girl was a little _too_ taken with the monsters for her tastes, and the smaller wyverian gave a vibe that he should not be crossed. He seemed trustworthy as long as it was business-related though, seemed that it was his point of pride.  
The cook completed the team. A Chinese-speaking cat… and he cooked great to boot!

But the second step was to register herself in the Hunters' Guild… and, as much as she was talented (she _was_ the Goddess of the Hunt) she began on the bottom step of the ladder.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll prove yourself soon and go from rank 1 to G-rank 3 in a flash!"

"I have no idea what a G-rank is yet, but thanks…

It's no problem," she declared after a bit. "I am a bit too used to being considered the best hunter, but now I'll have challenges and a competition. I'll just have to shown them what I am really made of and… is that hunter using a Japanese schoolgirl uniform as armor?"

"I… have no idea what that is, but high-level hunters are as eccentric as high-level ninjas so just… pretend it never happened, ok?"

Artemis just sighed as she passed a hunter with a Palico dressed as Super Mario…

IIIII

As Naruto predicted, Artemis just flew throught the ranks on that week. Soon she would surpass him, not that he was feeling any inferior since she _was_ the Goddess of Hunting.

Some situations were just bizarre though…

"You can't kill it! It is a capture mission!" Naruto said, trying his best to hold back an Artemis that was almost using her divine powers.

"That _thing_ farted on me!"

"That thing is a Congalala. It farts on everyone!"

IIIII

But by the end of the week they returned to Konoha happy. But also a bit apprehensive.

Naruto was going to leave the following day.

The next morning, he went everywhere looking for his friends. He just couldn't find them…

It was a sad Naruto that went to the village gates with Artemis.

It was a tearful but happy Naruto that went through them, after saying goodbye to everyone that had been at the gates just waiting for him.

Now on the road, though, Artemis had to have a talk she had been dreading for a while.

"Naruto, about the camp…"

"I know, you won't be able to be with me, right?"

Artemis nodded.

"I'd also like you to pretend you don't know you are related to me yet."

He stopped and looked at her, confused.

"You are the closest thing to a child of my own I ever had. And since I swore myself to remain chaste, every other one I'll ever have will be like you too."

"And since you swore to remain chaste and no one else was born with just a divine third, people would think I'm either a liar or special and may resent me?"

"Well, yes. That and… I have a group of followers that I train myself, but with two exceptions they have always been female, and have to remain chaste. Since you wish to have a family someday, you can't join us.  
And… let's just say they are not well-liked by the campers. They sort of have a rivalry."

Naruto nodded.

"Oh, one more thing. There they speak another language, so you'll need to wear this pendant my sister made for me. It should let you understand and speak any language and learn it to use even without it after a while. The fox shape was supposed to be a joke about your mother…"

"I understand. Don't worry, now I know that the fox is a link I have with her."

Artemis nodded.

"I also asked Hephaestus to make these for you after finding out you had The Man make your weapons from monster remains. When you activate them, any weapon you are holding becomes imbued with your divine energy and become the same as if made of Celestial Bronze, making them more efficient against monsters from there but also make mortals unable to be hurt by them."

"Wait, how does this work?"

"Monsters there are supernatural beings, unlike the ones of the Hunting Grounds. Celestial Bronze only affects the supernatural. That's why it is so strong against monsters, gods and demigods, but does not affect mortals."

Naruto nodded.

"I will leave you at the entrance to the camp. Do your best… Doodle."

"I will… Temie," he answered with a grin.

And thus they separated, Artemis going back to her Hunters, and Naruto going to meet the Camp Half-Blood, and his new destiny.


	2. Meet and Annoy at Camp

**Wow, so many likes and faves. Seems like you guys really liked my idea.**

 **Here is the second chapter. Hope you guys like it just as much.  
But I doubt it, most of it is just a small twist on the books, some lines changed a bit (mostly because my book is in Brazilian Portuguese).**

 **And to make it worse I had to stop before the Capture the Flag game, since it was already past 7k words/18 pages…**

 **A warning: Naruto doesn't act kindly to Annabeth in this chapter. It is not for malice, but because she is the spokesperson of the camp for now, and the one person he can complain to.  
Also she does act a bit like she expected Percy to know everything even with he all but screaming he knows nothing about the camp…**

IIIII

" _It's like I have three chakras…"_

" _Three?" the old hermit asked the boy, surprised._

" _Yes, I can feel them… I can feel them as colors. One yellow, one red and one silver…"_

IIIII

When Naruto arrived, it was raining hard. The warm water hit his skin heavily.

But he wasn't worried about the rain. He was more worried about the giant bullman that he just saw dissolving a woman.

After figuring out that there were two more people there, he quickly summoned Ace, who was with the scroll with his equipment.

Before the cat could even figure out what was happening, the ninja took the scroll from him.

"Protect the two kids while I find my glaive!"

The cat just saluted, jumping on top of the monster.

IIIII

Percy Jackson was in grief, scared and angry, but he had a plan to survive. It was pretty simple, the Minotaur was a bull, so he would do like in the cartoons, using his red raincoat to make it run into him and jump aside just before being hit, making the monster hit a tree and become dizzy instead.

There were only two problems with that plan.

First problem, the minotaur was smarter than he thought, opening its arms to avoid him jumping to the sides.

The second wasn't exactly a problem, I mean who would expect a big cat jumping on the head of the monster and using the horns to guide it to a different tree?

The impact made its horn break, falling right by Percy's feet, but the cat quickly jumped away just as a kid a little older than him _cut its arm off with a blade on a giant stick_.

Percy got angry. Thar beast killed his mom, and almost killed Grover, and here he was while another person (and a cat) fought it!

He grabbed the horn, and while the other kid jumped back to avoid a swipe from the beast he jumped on its back and stabbed it with the horn in the back of the neck.

The monster started to trash around, trying to pry Percy off, until eventually the boy was hit by the arm and thrown into a tree. The other kid, that he now noticed was blond and wearing orange clothes, grabbed him, but it was still enough force in that arm to hurt him a lot.

The last thing he saw before passing out was the minotaur dissolving in sand.

IIIII

Naruto felt a bit useless as he put the glaive back in the scroll. For all the monsters he fought in the Hunting Grounds without chakra, right when he fights one in this new world he _forgets he can use it now_ …

The boy didn't seem to be hurt much, maybe one or two broken ribs. Grabbing the piece of horn, it was the boy's by right, he put him and the other boy over his shoulders and carried them to the closest place he could see, a passage through a strawberry field.

He didn't bat an eyelid when the field gave place to a camp. He was more worried for the boys than surprised.

IIIII

"How is he?" asked Naruto, surprising the girl that was taking care of the black-haired boy.

"He is better, should wake up in a few days good as new."

"Good. That's good," Naruto said absent-mindedly, then sighed.

"Stop blaming yourself. He could have been much worse if not for you."

"I could had been faster. If I hadn't forgot to use my powers…"

Annabeth sighed. "That's what we are here for. To avoid mistakes such as these. Take it as a learning experience."

"…you're right. If I am feeling bad, I can only imagine how Shikamaru felt, yet he got up and was ready to go back to work!" Naruto said, pumped up. Annabeth had no idea what he meant, but at least he wasn't wallowing in self-deprecation.

"By the way, I am Uzumaki Naruto… wait, Naruto Uzumaki, I forgot you use the personal name first around here."

"I'm Annabeth Chase. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Naruto."

"Excuse me," came a voice from the door, and a man in a wheelchair entered the infirmary. "My name is Chiron. I am the activities director here at the camp. Could you come with me so we could talk with the camp director?"

With a stiff nod, Naruto followed the man until he reached a table, where a man with a chubby face and a tiger-stripped shirt was drinking a can of diet coke.

"Naruto, this is Mr. D Mister D, this is Naruto Uzumaki."

"A pleasure, Nagato," Mr. D drawled before taking a sip from his coke.

Naruto just raised an eyebrow. "The pleasure is mine, Dorys."

Mr. D almost spit his coke.

"Naruto, show the director some respect, please!"

Naruto shrugged, still eyeing Mr. D with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Dennys."

"Naruto, _behave_!" Chiron warned.

"I should turn you into a… nevermind. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There, that's my part done. Chiron, deal with him quickly se we can play." With Naruto dismissed, Mr. D started shuffling a deck of cards.

"What are you going to play?" Naruto asked, curious.

"You talk a lot."

Naruto just shrugged.

"How much do you know about the camp, Naruto?" Chiron asked, trying to calm everyone (mostly Mr. D).

"I only know that I have some kind of divine blood and I's be taught how to use my powers here," he answered.

Chiron nodded. "Now, do you have any idea which is your divine parent?"

"I... I'm not sure, Temie only told me to come. Said I would learn to use my powers here." It was not exactly a lie, he had no way to say what Artemis was to him after all.

"Temie?" Mr. D asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"It wasn't your remaining mother or father?" Chiron asked again, like Mr. D he was confused by him using her name.

"I'm an orphan. She is an old friend of the family that figured out I had divine blood and got me sent here. Temie is a nickname our friend Sophia gave her, she's Temie and I'm Doodle."

"I see. And what is her real name?"

"I'd rather not say," Naruto answered, looking down and making his best to look sheepish. "She told me that names have power when you have divine blood."

"Understandable," Chiron said. He couldn't blame the kid for trying to protect his friend. But he was curious.

"Yet, you gave yours away easily," Mr. D pointed out.

"It is mine to give. Temie's isn't."

"Well, as I said welcome to Camp Half-Blood, where demigods like you are made into 'heroes' and yada-yada. Now go have your tour with Chiron," Mr. D said, now uninterested again.

Naruto shrugged. "Fair enough. See ya, Doris."

Chiron just shook his head, wondering if Naruto would be so daring if he knew _who_ Mr. D was. He was sure he wouldn't act like that if this Temie had warned him.

He was, of course, wrong. Naruto was actually a bit saddened that the god of Parties and Madness wasn't more cheerful…

IIIII

"Are you sure you want to stay here?" Chiron asked.

"Yes, I am. I think he would be happy to have someone with him, after what happened… And I kind of feel responsible.  
Look at it this way, when we join the camp it will be in one day instead of having to do the presentations twice."

Chiron nodded. Then he gave him the books.

"And here you go, some books on Greek Mythology to pass your time. You know, most campers would dislike the studying… but you don't have the silver eyes of a son of Athena."

"Oh, it's not studying, it's information gathering. Someone once told me that information can be more valuable than gold" – 'and had the scars to prove it,' he added in his mind. "It will be a bit boring," he shrugged, "but unlike normal history not knowing this _can_ bite me later so…"

Chiron smiled. That kid seemed to have some experience already.

"Very well. As soon as Percy wakes up I will have someone give you two a tour. Rest well."

Naruto waved his hand to the leaving man, before sighing. As he said, knowing greek mythology would definitely be important, specially while in the camp where everyone both knew, was related to or even _was_ them. It didn't mean he had to like it.

He didn't bother asking how he knew Percy's name. As far as he knew, they probably already knew each other.

IIIII

Annabeth apparently didn't give Naruto much credit, since she thought he didn't notice her asking him about something that was stolen and something about summer solstice. Her loss.

It was while another boy named Grover was the one nursing Percy that he finaly woke up. By that point they knew he was going to do it soon, so the three were in a veranda waiting for him.

For now, he decided that discretion was the best thing to do. Percy seemed to be wanting it all to be a dream, and Naruto could understand since from what they said the woman that died when he arrived was his mother.

Then Grover handed Percy the Minotaur horn.

"Why does it have a leather handle?" Percy asked, confused.

"That would be my fault…" answered Naruto, finally approaching with Ace by his side. "Naruto Uzumaki. Well, you were able to defeat a monster with it, so I thought you'd like it to be turned into a weapon. We already know it works." He smiled as warmingly as he could, trying to calm the boy down.

"Percy Jackson… Wait! You're the one who saved me!" Percy said when he turned to him, eyes wide.

"Well, considering I missed and you didn't, then he threw you away while trashing and disappeared before he could hurt me, I'd say it was more like the other way around."

"But your cat—"

"Oh, Ace did help you," Naruto agreed. "But that's Ace, and I'm me."

"Then… the Mino—"

"Try to avoid saying names. Never heard of those monsters that are summoned by calling them?"

Percy's eyes widened. "They are real too?"

"No idea," Naruto answered with a shrug, "but if bull-head is, who else could be?"

"Then, my mom..."

"Was caught by bullboy and disappeared in a flash of light," Naruto nodded.

Percy quickly looked away, saddened. Grover started apologizing for being a bad satyr for not protecting them well enough. He was a Guardian, Naruto supposed that was a kind of demigod bodyguard?

Percy suddenly felt weak, so he and Grover made him drink his cup of nectar. When he started feeling well enough, the other two took him to Mr. D and Chiron, where they were playing cards while Annabeth watched.

"Yo Chiron, Dorys!"

"Nancy," was all that Mr. D said, before scowling at seeing that Naruto was grinning at him.

"Mr. Brunner?" Percy asked, confused.

"Ah, Naruto, Percy, welcome. Now we have enough people for a game of pinochle."

"Well, I never played it, but I was told I learn fast," said Naruto. "…Well, card games at least."

Percy sat besides Mr. D, who promptly told him his required line to get it over with, while Chiron introduced Annabeth to Percy and asked her to take care of the bed of the two newcomers in Cabin 11. The girl proceeded to demolish any chances Percy could have had of impressing her with his kill by mentioning that he drools before leaving.

While Percy talked to Chiron about his double-life as Mr. Brunner, a latin teacher at Percy's old school (Naruto had no idea what latin was, he'd have to ask someone later), Naruto learned how to play from Grover.

The game went like that, with Naruto playing pretty well under Grover's teachings and Percy, Chiron and Mr. D talking about the camp.  
Until Chiron said they learned about the gods in his latin classes.

"Why would you teach the greek gods in latin classes?" he asked.

"Well, it is true that latim is the old romam language," ah, so that's what latin was. Naruto wondered if Chiron knew he didn't know, "but the gods are mostly the same, just under different names. Sometimes, like in Heracles' case, they are even known more by their roman names."

His attention left the conversation again. He got the gist of it, that Chiron was trying to explain that deities were real.

Until Percy started angering Mr. D by insisting that he didn't believe in gods despite _everything that happened to him making no sense otherwise_.

"Percy, I don't believe in aliens either, but if a flying saucer appeared and offered me a ride I'd at least be willing to give their existence a thought."

Percy looked at him as if asking what that had to do with anything.

"Greek gods are your aliens and the flying saucer rammed into you just the other night. Hell, you stabbed it in the back with its own horn!"

Percy looked at him, confused.

"Bull-dude. He is the proof."

"Ah."

"Good work, Nanaya, if he kept insisting I'd be tempted to show him _more than enough_ proof."

Mr. D then summoned a goblet of wine, that under Chiron's reminder he wasn't allowed to drink it he promptly turned into a new can of diet coke and apologized to the sky. Percy was open-mouthed.

Naruto was confused.

"Why can't _he of all people_ drink wine?"

Everyone looked at him, surprised.

"What?"

Chiron was the first to recover from the shock. "Mr. D was forbidden by his father as punishment. He went after a wood nymph that was off-limits."

Percy was finally making the connection, so Naruto clinched it asking what he really wanted to know.

"Is that why this is not a big months-long party?"

"Yes," Mr. D said. "I can go to them, but I can't make them."

"You're Dionysius!" Percy said. "The god of wine!"

"And parties and madness. Can't forget the parties and madness," Naruto added.

" _Everyone_ forgets the parties and madness," Mr. D complained. "Everyone always thinks of me as just the wine god."

" _You_ are a god?" Percy insisted, as if affronted that Mr. D of all people would be one.

Mr. D just _looked_ in his eyes.

"…Ok, I think I can see it now,"

"I think I won," said Naruto, counting his points.

"Sorry child, I was the one to win. But it was a good go for a first timer."

"I'm tired," Mr. D finally said. He then called Grover for them to have a talk, and reminded the two demigods they had to go to Cabin 11.

Percy got worried for Grover, and Chiron's attempt at relieving him gave them the info that the land of the gods, despite still being called Mount Olympus, was not the one of the same name in the country of Italy but a secret area in a building called Empire State – after going through many other countries.

All this talk only reinforced to Naruto that he had to learn about this new world just as much as he had about the Hunting Grounds.

Maybe more.

Percy seemed more overwhelmed. He asked what they were.

For Naruto, they were just normal people with an important parent. So they got a few gifts from them, they weren't that special in the Elemental Nations. …Ok, not exactly common, but not that special either.

The way Chiron answered though seemed at first like he took it as a philosophical question, acting as if their future wasn't clear to anyone… but Naruto got the feeling he expected _something_ from the other kid. Just a hunch, though.

Then he changed the topic. He talked about how they would make new friends, and of the different things they'd have to eat for dinner.

Then he walked out of his wheelchair.

As in, walked _out_ , not stood up. Horse legs came from inside the wheelchair, as if there was a secret chamber in there.

"Huh, I thought it was a title," was all Naruto could say. "You know, since you didn't look part horse before."

"No, child, I am the real deal."

And thus Chiron asked them to follow him. They did so, but Naruto noticed Percy seemed a little afraid of staying behind the centaur…

While walking, they couldn't fail to notice that people were staring at them… or rather, at Percy and his amazing horn. No wonder the boy got embarrassed and started looking at the lodge. And saw something moving near the top.

Percy asked Shiron who lived there… and the answer chilled Naruto to the bone.

"Did you put emphasis on 'living' on purpose?" Naruto asked, hoping that the answer was no.

Unfortunately Chiron just gave him a patronizing smile Naruto could tell was fake.

Naruto could not pay total attention to anything right now. Not the strawberry fields, not the talk about the satyr and his botched protection job…

Until Percy asked if the Underworld was real. And Chiron's confirmation that it was.

"W-wait! D-does that mean that g-g-gho—"

"Not exactly," interrupted Chiron, already imagining what he was asking. "Well, I can't say if there are actual ghosts, but the ones in the Underworld are spirits exactly where you go when you pass on, while ghosts are spirits that did _not_ pass on."

Naruto nodded nervously. That was not exactly comforting, but at least if someone who was so knowledgeable of myths and monsters that were real couldn't say they existed, chances were they didn't.

Not a hundred percent, but that'd have to do for now.

"Now, there are supplies in the woods, if you wish to try your luck, but go armed."

"Sure," Naruto answered, "always am anyway."

Chiron raised his eyebrow at this, but didn't ask.

"Supplies of what? Armed with what?" Percy asked, confused.

"You'll see. The Capture the Flag games are on Friday. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

"My own—" Percy started to ask, but was interrupted by Naruto.

"I do, but I'm better with a glaive. Didn't use them much, to be honest."

"That's acceptable too. I'm surprised you have to be honest. Percy, I think a number five should suit you. I'll take you to the armory later."

They kept going through the camp, Percy pensive all the while. They walked near the archery range, the lake for canoeing, the stables (Chiron wasn't very happy with them. Naruto noticed that… some of the horses had wings?), a dart-launching line, an amphitheater and an arena for weapons training.

Naruto wondered if they'd fight only each other or monster too… The basic training in the Hunting Grounds put you against a Great Jaggi to give in-field experience, after all.

But Chiron quickly told them it was mostly inter-house challenges, and non-lethal most of the time. No monsters then.

And, finally, the mess room… well, mess field. Also called Dining Pavilion. Surrounded by greek collumns and with a sight of the sea, it gave a feeling of being surrounded by nature's beauty.

…And, as Percy pointed out, with a lack of walls and roof. Could be a problem if it rained, but Chiron actually looked at them weird for mentioning that.

And there was a big brazier made of bronze with a big flame, and a dozen stone tables with white cloth with purple trim.

From the way Chiron talked earlier, he thought that was where the tour would end, but, proving it was just an excuse to change the subject earlier, he took then to the cabins next.

They were build in an U shape, with the ones at the top being the biggest and the left side clearly for the gods while the right was for the goddesses.  
Cabins one and two, despite being the biggest, and more cared for, seemed also to be empty. They seemed more like giant marble mausoleums than cabins, the left one bigger but the right one more refined.  
Cabin three was mostly sea stone, decorated with seashells and pieces of coral. For some reason, it fascinated Percy besides the beauty. It was also empty  
Cabin four, on its turn, was really in-nature, with living grass roof and plants growing on the walls.  
Cabin five was painted… poorly in red, with a boar head as decoration and barbed wire on the roof. It seemed like the people there didn't care enough to fix the painting though.  
Cabin six was gray, with white curtains, and an owl design over the door. It gave more the feel of a library than a cabin.  
Cabin seven seemed to be made of gold… and was really, _really_ reflexive.  
Cabin eight, Temie's cabin, on its turn seemed to be made of silver. Something told him it would shine just as bright at night though.  
Cabin nine had some extra chimneys, and the walls seemed made of brick. And for some reason it reminded him of The Man's stall.  
Cabin ten was… the opposite of five, being extremely decorated and well-painted. It seemed more like the outside of a furniture store than a cabin to Naruto, if not for the smell of perfume he could smell even from far away.  
Cabin eleven, the one that they would stay at, seemed badly-conserved to him, with the paint peeling. It had a symbol Naruto saw in pharmacies over the door, and seemed _full_ of people.  
And finally cabin twelve, the only male one on the right side, seemed surrounded with grape vines…

Between them were a bunch of statues, fountains, flowers… it was like a small park. In the middle was a stone area with a bonfire, and a little girl playing with it.

Percy finally seemed to ask if Chiron was _the_ Chiron, and the centaur confirmed, and said that he would be immortal as long as he was needed to teach.

Percy then asked if being a teacher for so long was boring. The answer was no, just depressing sometimes.  
Naruto could see it, despite giving hell to his teachers, Iruka-sensei really seemed to like to teach, and he had fun when teaching Konohamaru…

Then Percy put his foot in his mouth by asking why it could be depressing. Naruto felt like slapping his own face, or maybe Percy's. Either or.

"Percy, think like this. You are immortal. You teach people. The people you teach are _not_ immortal. They grow old. They die. You stay."

"Like in the Highlander movies?" Percy asked, what he asked finally sinking.

"…Maybe? Never watched them."

Percy followed them, a little depressed now, as Chiron took them to cabin eleven.

Annabeth was there, reading a book in yet another language. Naruto could feel the amulet trying to translate it for him, but since Percy seemed not to understand what it said he thought it'd be too suspicious to know.

Chiron then asked Annabeth to complete the tour, since he had archery classes to give right now. But first told them to make themselves at home at cabin eleven.

Naruto didn't pay much more attention at the state of the place he did not start paying attention to his own home until he started taking missions to take care of the home of others – but he did notice that there were more people than beds.

While Percy fell down on his face – something Naruto learned to avoid instinctively due to his pran— training, Annabeth presented them to the cabin. Everyone groaned when told they were still unclaimed, until one of them said that was why they were there.

Naruto was sure the guy must be an adult already by his appearance, or near that. He was tall and muscled, with short sand-colored hair and a scar beneath his right eye.

Annabeth presented him as Luke, their counsellor for now. Luke himself explained that they would be in cabin eleven until they were claimed, since Hermes was patron of travelers.

Naruto liked Luke. He reminded him a bit of Kabuto before he revealed being a traitor.

Percy then asked when they would be claimed… and the guys at the cabin started laughing. Naruto resisted making an angry face at them, but saw Annabeth pulling Percy outside.

"So," Naruto asked coldly as soon as Annabeth started telling Percy to "try harder", "what is so fun, or so embarrassing to you, about the new guy not knowing things that were not explained?"

"It's not like that…" Annabeth tried to answer, but Naruto cut her again.

"It is. He asked when he would be claimed, they laughed and you pulled him aside not to explain, but to scold him. Why not tell him just that everyone is different and some even aren't? Why act as if he was stupid just for not knowing something?"

"You clearly know."

"I had someone explain it to me. Something you and Luke should have been doing for Percy."

"Yeah," Percy recovered enough to enter the conversation. "All I know is that I fought a bull-dude—"

"Don't say it like that!" Annabeth interrupted, angry. "Do you know how many in the camp would have liked to have that chance?"

"Of nearly dying?" Percy asked, confused.

"Or of losing their remaining relative in front of their eyes while powerless to do anything?" Naruto asked calmly, but his anger was clear in his voice.

Annabeth flinched.

"For what we have been training for…"

"And what have you been training for?"

Annabeth couldn't look in Naruto's eyes.

"Let me make one thing clear, Annabeth Chase. I did not come here for glory. I did not come here to be praised as a 'hero' for killing monsters. I came here to learn how to use my godly powers. I came here to have the power to protect my loved ones, and hopefully avoid as many people ending up as Percy's mom did as possible."

Annabeth's winced as if slapped.

Naruto then turned to Percy.

"And you, any question?"

"Ah-yes. That thing I fought, was it really—"

"Yes."

"The real deal?"

"Yup. I was told it respawns after some time."

Percy blinked. "Like in videogames?"

"Yup. They die but come back after a while. No one knows how long though."

"So, if let's say I killed one with a sword—"

"It will come back later. But unlike in videogames it will remember you and be pissed."

"Joy… And let me guess, just like with bullman, I can't even know the name of what I pissed off."

Naruto shrugged. "I just started getting really invested in greek mythology, in my land we worship the Shinto gods. Different gods, different monsters… I suggest asking miss foot-in-mouth."

Annoyed by the nickname, Annabeth complied.

"Your math teacher was one we call Kindly Ones. They are the servants of the god of the underworld."

Percy did the math.

"Do you mean a Fur—"

Naruto quickly covered his mouth.

"Percy, we already talked about this."

"Sorry."

Percy then thought a bit more. "Why are we all at cabin eleven? I mean, there are so many empty ones!"

"Ah, that's because you go to the cabin of the deity you are a descendant of. Sons and daughters are called half-bloods, while grandchildren are called legacies. Eleven is special because you can go there until being claimed."

"So you are saying either my mom or my father had divine blood?"

"More like your father, or your mom would have brought you here earlier. You can only enter here if you have it."

"I see… It's a bit hard to believe."

"Yeah, I know. Temie told me that most demigods have… what was it… ACDC and di-something.

"ADHD and dyslexia. ADHD is your battle reflexes and paying attention to all the details, and dyslexia is because your brain is hardwired to read ancient greek," helped Annabeth.

"You can also eat ambrosia and nectar. That drink you were taking earlier. It can help heal, but if you take too much, or are a mortal, you'd die, painfully," Naruto added.

Percy gulped.

Their talk was interrupted by a female voice.

"Oh look, newbies!"

It was a tall and muscled girl that Naruto thought he saw in cabin five, accompanied by three others.

The new girl, Clarisse, started fighting verbally with Annabeth. Something about a spear. There was a curse in greek somewhere there, but with his pendant Naruto understood it anyway…

"Who are the shorties?" Clarisse then asked, making Naruto narrow his eyes. He had a little of a problem with his height ever since Tazuna teased him about it.

"Percy Jackson and Naruto Uzumaki," Annabeth answered, pointing out each of them.

"Do you make a habit to present people that have just being insulted, or you just agree with her?"

Anabeth rolled her eyes. "Do you make a habit of taking everything as an insult?"

"Nah, your know-it-all attitude just annoys me."

"Wow, I can feel the tension from here," Clarisse said in a teasing tone.

Annabeth spluttered trying to deny it, while Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"Just finish the introductions," he said in an annoyed tone.

"This is Clarisse, daughter of Ares."

Percy blinked. "Like, the god of war?"

"You got a problem with that?" Clarisse asked, angry.

"Nah, he is just a bit slow for now. Still getting used to the whole monsters and gods existing thing."

Clarisse looked at the two, annoyed. Percy looked back defiantly, while Naruto looked at her like if he was dealing with an annoying kid.

"We have an initiation for newcomers."

"Can it be later? We are kinda in the middle of a tour," Naruto drawled, doing his best to act as Shikamaru.

Clarisse growled, and advanced on him.

She had less of a second to notice his bored expression change into a mischievous smile before she was thrown above him and ended up face-up on the floor.

"Oh, a spar?" Naruto said happily, "I'm always up for one!"

Clarisse stood up, still growling, before taking a deep breath. "So, were you the one to defeat the Minotaur?"

"Nah, I fought it a bit, cut his arm and all, but Percy there gave the fatal strike."

Clarisse looked at Percy as if not believing it, but couldn't just call Naruto a liar.

"Well, I'm going to save it for the Capture the Flag game. See you there, Uzumaki."

She then left with her three… friends? Sisters? Naruto was curious now.

Annabeth looked at Naruto as if seeing a new side of him.

With that distraction done, she pointed more places to them, like the forge (Naruto could give it a try later with the weakest monster materials, it would be far inferior than The Man's work but you can only learn by trying after all), the arts room, and the climbing wall… well, walls. It supposedly shook, threw rocks and lava, and even hit each other if someone took too long.

Soon they were back by the lake, and Annabeth was more than ready to leave for her own training. She did tell them when dinner was, though.

"This is crazy," Percy finally released.

"What is crazy?"

"This place. The whole half-god thing. Myths and legends being real."

"You know, if you told me that a year ago… I would have agreed with you," Naruto said, surprising Percy.

"…You would? Was that when you met your friend?"

"No. It was when I met Orochimaru. A bastard obsessed with immortality, who found a way to put his soul in the body of others."

"Never heard of a monster with this name…"

"That's because he isn't. Didn't I say before? Monsters respawn. They are what is called archetypes, so when they die they come back just like before. They are already immortal.  
Orochimaru is human. Or as close of human as something like that can be."

"That's hard to believe."

"I know. But I met the guy. Before and after an old man friend of mine died trying to cut off his arms by summoning the God of Death."

Well, it was the Shinigami, but Thanatos was the closest equivalent in greek mythology. He hoped the guy didn't mind.

"And you met the Minotaur. You fought it. Sorry for bringing it up, but you lost someone to it.

I know it is hard to accept, but the sooner you do, the sooner you can accept the rest too."

"I wonder how. I, related to a god."

Annabeth couldn't keep quiet after that.

"Child of one. The Camp only accepts demigods, not legacies."

Naruto sighed in annoyance as Percy looked at her angrily.

"My father is dead!"

"Your father was forced to leave due to the laws."

"What? Why?"

"To discourage them of having demigods," Naruto answered, looking at the lake. Someone underwater waved to him, so he waved back.

"They used to have a lot, so the laws are to try to make them keep it in their pants."

"Crude way to put it," Annabeth complained.

"But true."

"Every kid here is a half-god?" Percy asked.

"The official term is demigod. Or half-blood," corrected Annabeth.

"So, who is your—"

"Divine parent," Naruto corrected.

"I am a daughter of Athena—"

"Then you should learn from your mom and think more before speaking."

Annabeth looked annoyed at Naruto.

"Just saying," he shrugged. "At least Percy isn't supposed to be wise."

"What is that supposed to mean?" they both asked angrily.

"It means that you need a lot of growing up before you can become a teacher. I mean, seriously, you've been expecting Percy here to just believe you and accept everything you say, and if he doesn't you act all annoyed!  
He is new here. No one explained anything to him. He didn't even see the movie. He came in here blind, and you are acting as if he was supposed to have memorized the manual."

Annabeth winced. "I may have been a bit too critic…"

Percy took a deep breath.

"Ok, so my father was a god. And I have to wait until I am claimed before finding out who he is, but some never are… What is being claimed, anyway?"

"They send a sign. From what I was told, it is a floating symbol over your head," Naruto said.

Percy took a deep breath, letting it all sink in.

"This sucks. And I have to stay here forever?"

"If you aren't too powerful, you can stay here only in the summer, the monsters can ignore you. I'm staying with Temie most of the time, so she can help me. But some are too powerful and the monsters can find them easily after they are old enough to use their powers," Naruto said.

"So… the monsters can't enter here?"

"Not unless intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by someone on the inside," Annabeth explained.

"Why would someone summon a monster?"

"Practice fights. Practical jokes."

"Practical jokes?"

Naruto agreed, most times sending a monster was a bit too much for a practical joke. Good thing it was possible to train against monsters though.

"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

"So ... you're a year-rounder?" Percy asked, and Annabeth nodded.

She pulled a leather necklace from the inside of her shirt with five differnet beads and a gold ring. "I've been here since I was seven. Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

"Why did you come so young?" Percy asked.

"None of your business," she answered seriously.

They were silent for a bit.

"So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"

"From what I was told it is against the rules unless you are allowed though," said Naruto, looking at Annabeth.

"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."

"Unless?" Percy asked, but Naruto was also looking at her curiously.

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time ..." she started saying, but her voice trailed off.

"Not like we would be given one yet anyway," Naruto said. "We just got here, we are far from able to use our powers to fight properly."

They stood quiet for a bit, but Percy was curious about something…

"Back in the sick room, when you were feeding me that stuff—"

"Ambrosia," both of the others said.

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

"I remember that," Naruto said. "You were trying to hide you were asking him those things."

"And why didn't you say anything?" she asked, her eyebrow twitching at being caught.

Naruto shrugged, "Didn't sound like anything important."

Annabeth turned to Percy. "So you do know something?"

"Why do you think he does? He had just arrived and had no idea that gods even existed. He may be just curious since you asked him about it while he was awake."

"Also, back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

"I wish I knew," Annabeth answered, fists clenched. "Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."

"You've been to Olympus?" Percy asked, surprised.

"Some of us year-rounders – Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others – we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"But... how did you get there?"

"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor. You are a New Yorker, right?"

"Oh, sure."

"Yep, pretty reasonable. Everyone in New York knows where to find Olympus," Naruto snarked.

"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, ignoring Naruto, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping... I mean, Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

Letting Annabeth muttering by herself about being able to help if she got a quest, Naruto guided Percy to cabin eleven so they could go have dinner.

There, they both sat down at their designated places until Luke arrived with a sleeping bag and some toiletries. He started talking with Percy, about how almost no one there believed in gods before arriving but learns to accept it, but that also doesn't make anything easier. About his father, Hermes. It was being a better talk than most of the introduction until now.

And of course, the reason Annabeth was so critic of Percy. Seems like ever since Luke failed a quest they have stopped giving them, and she been waiting for _someone_ prophesized to make the next quest, thinking every new camper must be it. Naruto frowned at that. He really didn't believe in prophecies, but it did explain her behavior…

A horn sounded, calling them for dinner. All but the tables for the three bigger cabins and Temie's had someone. Naruto saw also that he was right, Temie's cabin was starting to reflect the moonlight.

Many supernatural being started appearing, more satyrs coming from the woods, nymphs coming from the trees, and naiads from the lake. The one Naruto waved to earlier waved again, and he answered with a smile.

"To the gods!" everyone said, raising their glasses, and nymphs arrived with all kinds of foods. A bit disappointed by the lack of ramen, but used to it since the Street Cook didn't know how to make it and the Ichirakus refused to sell him the recipe, he asked his glass for red bean soup like Luke told them to.

And then the time for the offering. Naruto took a deep breath, and since not everyone was saying out loud the name of their god he thought he could escape with it if he just thought it.

'Artemis.'

He then threw a piece of well-done meat for her. It was practically golden, the way she liked it.

Then he threw another piece to Hermes, just as thanks for letting him stay in his cabin for now.

After they were done, Chiron stomped to get their attention. Mr. D stood up.

Apparently the next Capture the Flag game was that Friday, with cabin five holding something called laurels.

"That is our trophy," Luke explained. Oh.

"Personally I could care less, but congratulations," said Mr. D. "Also I should tell you that we have new campers today. Nancy Usagi and Peter Johnson."

Chiron said something to him, and he quickly corrected to "Oh right, Naruto Uzumaki and Percy Jackson, whatever."

"Love you too Dorys!" Naruto said.

Some people laughed, others held their breaths. When it was clear Naruto would not be put in a bottle, everyone clapped.

They then went to the amphitheater, where the children of Apolo began to play some music Naruto never heard before. They were certainly better than the one Sasuke tried to make in their password in the chunin exams though.

IIIII

"Hey, not that I don't appreciate it, but can't I just camp outside?" Naruto asked Luke.

"No, sorry. The harpies that watch the place at night would attack you."

With a sigh, Naruto sat down. He was pretty sure he could take care of them, but if he was to use his chakra he wouldn't need to be there to learn how to use his divine energy, right?

IIIII

" _So, you don't have enough control with the yellow chakra to summon the big ones, and you can't draw the red chakra properly… Let's see, what can we do to make you draw the red one easier…"_

" _What about the silver one?"_

 _Jiraiya shook his head. "We have no idea what the silver one could do. I'd rather not risk it."_

" _But the red one is the fox's!"_

 _Jiraiya sighed, then nodded. It seemed to Naruto like he knew something about it, but why wouldn't he tell him then? "Alright, you have one chance to summon with the silver chakra. Let's see what you get."_

 _Naruto complied, quickly making the handsigns, but doing his best to drawn the_ silver _chakra this time._

 _As the smoke disappeared, he was disappointed for a second for the summoned being being small despite him putting as much silver chakra as he could… Then he froze._

 _That was_ _ **not**_ _a toad._

 _That was furry, with a tail, pointed ears and vertical eyes._

 _He would call it a cat, if it weren't for the armor. And the fact he was standing up, pointing a lance to him._

" _Name's Ace, The Ace Palico. Are you my new minion?"_


	3. Capture the Quest

***Looks at number of faves/follows* That's not a small number! O_O**

 **No, seriously, at the time of this upload I had passed the 180 favorites and 230 followers mark.**

 **Thank you, I hope I am able to deserve all of these in the future.**

 **Just would like to ask one thing: as far as I know, favorites spread the word about a fic, but only follows let you the reader get a message about a new update. So please, if you favorite I'd like you also to follow. Some of you only favorite, and I'd hate for you to miss a future update if you are enjoying the fic.**

 **Now, a more story-related point...**

 **Someone (a guest reviewer) pointed out the heritage of chakra from the Shinju as a reason Naruto would be a Legacy, and thus more than a third of him would be divine. There is, however, the fact mortals themselves are a Legacy of Athena in greek mythology (at least according to my research). Thus, far enough Legacies do not count.  
He also pointed out Naruto is the reincarnation of Ashura, but reincarnation also exists in greek mythology, as shown by the existence of the Isles of the Blest. If that counted, there would be mention of a reincarnated demigod in one of the books.  
Not saying that reviewer is technically wrong, but canonically those facts do not count. And even if they did, no one is aware of this for now but maybe the kami.**

IIIII

" _Whoah, I feel so weak…" Naruto said as he reached out of the tunnel Ace dug. It_ seemed _short, but on the other side they were surrounded by a field._

" _It is because we can't use chakra here, it seems," replied Jiraiya as he climbed up and pulled Naruto. "We are trained to use our chakra to reinforce our bodies, but we can't do that here.  
This is perfect. If we can work on the basics here, you will be much better where you _can _use it._

" _We better register him as a Hunter first though," said Ace as he jumped out and the tunnel closed. "I heard the Gathering Hall was moved to Val Habar, but I can't take us there since I never visited it before. Got us as close as I can. We will have to take a sandboat there."_

 _Jiraiya nodded._

" _I need to talk to sensei about this. Ace, I am putting responsibility for him in your hands."_

" _Do not worry. I would be a lousy master if I let my minions get hurt."_

IIIII

The week went easily for Naruto.

In the mornings, they studied ancient greek. Naruto felt like he was cheating, using the pendant Annabeth's mom made, but he didn't know enough English yet to study it the normal way.

He was pretty good at archery, about as good as the children of Apollo. Which got their attention, making them think he may be their brother. His blond hair and blue eyes didn't help.

He had to resist using chakra, but his hunting experience taught him how to run well without it too.

Combat was where he shone though. While others were still slow and left openings, his time training against his clones to defeat Neji gave him knowledge of his own strengths and weaknesses, and how to take advantage of them.

His gardening hobby was taken to the limit and beyond working in the fields, but still had no visible supernatural ability there. He still saw it as relaxing though, and engaged in small talk here and there with some children of Demeter and Castor and Pollux, the children of Mr. D.

His forging skills were abysmal, though. Canoeing was not that great either.

All in all, everyone though he was either a son of Apollo or Ares. Percy was banking on Ares, since he knew he used a glaive, but got along with Naruto much better than the Ares kids.

Naruto wondered sometimes if Sasuke was the son of Nemesis, with him being so lost in his revenge plans, but shrugged it away. As much as he called him a bastard, from what he heard his mom would castrate his father if he ever had an affair.

Friday night arrived, and with it the first game of Capture the Flag.

Annabeth entered the pavilion with a silk banner, gray with an owl and olive tree symbol, after dinner was over. Clarisse followed with a red one with a boar and spear symbol.

Naruto wondered if starting the game now was wise, some kids were new and didn't know how much food was too much before exercises, and it was night time. Yes, those were good simulations for bad case scenarios, but at least the newer or younger kids should have had more training, maybe kept out of this one.

Percy was wondering if it was always Athena and Ares, and Luke said that it was not always, but usual. Made sense to Naruto, they were the rival gods of warfare after all.

Athena's cabin made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, giving them the strength in numbers. Ares… had everyone else.  
Naruto analysed what he knew of them. Dionysius' children were good athletes, made sense since their father was once a hero. Demether's had some control of nature not unlike Mokuton, but were pacific, wouldn't be able to use it to their full potential. Aphrodite's weren't warriors, but could prove themselves a distraction. Hephaestus were big and strong, but slow in running and not much of fighters. Ares' kids were the real problem.

Chiron hit the ground with his hoof to get their attention.

"Heroes!" he called, and Naruto's mood fell. He was reminded that these people were there to be 'heroes', to be remembered for their actions instead of who they were. Worst thing is, he once thought just like them before meeting Haku and Zabuza.

Unknown to him, Dionysius noticed the dip in his mood that single word caused, and started looking at him curiously.

"You know the rules. The creek is the boundary. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items allowed. Banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but not bound or gagged. No killing or maiming allowed. I will be the referee and battle medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his arms, and the tables were covered with equipment. Naruto ignored it, and unlocked his Bone Staff – the Insect Glaive may be allowed, but he'd rather not poison the other campers.  
As he wore his Zamtrios set, he noticed he was being watched…

"Is something wrong?" he asked, worried.

"No, nothing. It's just…" Percy trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"How did you get an awesome armor like that?" asked one of the stoll brothers.

"And where were you keeping it?" asked the other.

"Oh, it was made by a friend with the remains of a few monsters I fought," Naruto explained, not saying that the monsters in the Hunting Ground and of the myths they fought were very different.  
"And I keep them in my scroll, it is an old art from my land. I think only I can unlock it here in the camp."

Well, not really. Due to not being able to use chakra in the hunting grounds, Jiraiya gave him a modified storage seal scroll, he could unlock the weapons with his blood too. So anyone with a bit of his blood could also unlock them.  
It was a more expensive storage seal, oftem used just in case the owner isn't able to use enough chakra to unlock a normal one.

Thinking about Jiraiya gave Naruto a pang of betrayal. He understood his reasons, but couldn't forgive him just yet.

The armor was an ice-blue, and covered Naruto completely, even his face. The glaive seemed like a long, thin bone with a big one in the tips, like long maces. But Naruto pressed a trigger and one of the tips released a blade, like a giant switchblade.

"I'll leave the kinsect for later," Naruto nodded to himself. Everyone was left wondering what a kinsect was.

"Well, at least they have the right colors," Luke said, wearing his bronze helmet with blue horsehair plume. "But how will you fight monsters if the weapon isn't made of Celestial Bronze?"

"Oh, I got these," Naruto answered, removing the gauntlet from one hand to show one of the small chains he was using as bracelet. "If I activate them, any weapon works just like a Celestial Bronze one for a bit."

"Oh," said Luke, looking at the bracelet. "That's a powerful magic item… didn't know we could have something that powerful, actualy."

"Well, it is fueled by my own energy and not by the gods, so I need to keep it turned off most of the time. But besides that, yeah, it can be pretty powerful if used well."

"Wouldn't that make it a hindrance then?"

"Nah, I can take it," Naruto says.

"Wait, if you don't know your godly parent, how do you have these?"

"Temie gave them to me."

"So, it was this Temie's and not yours?"

Naruto shrugged, letting Luke think whatever he wanted. All those questions made him think Luke may be a bit envious…

Before Luke could ask anything else, Annabeth yelled for the blue team to move.

Naruto quickly followed Percy as he approached Annabeth. He was beginning to think he may have a crush on her despite the way she acted towards him. Not that he had much room to talk, since he liked Sakura.

"What's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magical items you could loan me?"

"Just watch Clarisse's spear. You don't want to touch it. Otherwise don't worry. We'll take Ares' banner. Has Luke given you your jobs?"

"Border patrol," Naruto says in a bored tone.

"Whatever that means," Percy adds.

"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

They walked some more, and left Naruto and Percy next to a small creek before scattering in the trees.

Some time after they left, Naruto finally said something:

"They think we are idiots."

"Uh?"

"No offence, you just don't know enough yet, but I do. They are using us as bait so whoever they choose may take the flag."

"Bait?" Percy asked, eyes wide.

"Yup. Remember she mentioned Clarisse's spear, and said we wouldn't need to worry about anything else? She probably think Clarisse is angry I showed her up and is trying to put us here so we get her attention. It also helps that we don't get in the way of whatever plan they have."

Percy looked down, that made an horrible amount of sense.

"Well, I won't let them use me. Stay here if you want. I'll take that flag and show both sides who I really am."

"But she said—"

"I don't care. Athena's kids may have their plans, but no plan survives the enemy. To win, you also need to improvise. And guess what I do best."

As soon as they heard the horn he crossed the field at high speeds and climbed a tree, and despite his bright blue armor Percy lost all sight of him from then on.

"What the hell is he doing?" someone said.

"That was not the plan!"

"Did no one tell him what to do?"

Percy saw another person go past him into enemy territory, and finaly understood what Naruto said.

They were thrown out of the way.

And in Clarisse's path.

He then heard a canine growl nearby, but couldn't see anything. He raised his shield until he felt whatever growled walking away.

Then, the other side exploded, as five Ares' kids charged him.

"Wait!"

Or so they did for a bit, until Clarisse called them.

"Where's Uzumaki?"

Percy eyed her spear, red light covering the tip, before recovering his spirit.

"I don't know. He knew you would come for him, so he left."

"Hah, the coward ran away from me?"

Percy's eyes narrowed, angry for the closest thing to a friend he made in the camp yet.

"He didn't run away, he just refused to be used as bait in such an obvious trap."

"Trap? What do you…" then Clarisse's eyes widened.

"It's a trick! They are going for the flag! Quick, let's go back!"

Percy could only watch as the five reached the woods just as Luke came back out with the red banner, a surprised expression on his face.

The five bullrushed him, falling on the ground and throwing him back into a tree, but he kept enough spirit to hold the flag.

Clarisse was about to hit him with the spear when something appeared out of nowhere.

Or at least that's what it seemed when something ice-blue came from the dark-green leaves to hit Clarisse on the chest with his feet.

Before anyone could figure out what happened, Naruto was already holding Luke over the shoulder and running back to their side of the creek.

The red banner turned to silver, Chiron came out and blew a horn declaring the winners, and Naruto dropped Luke unceremoniously before taking his helmet off, a serious look on his face.

Annabeth then appeared out of nowhere removing a Yankees cap, an angry scowl of her own.

"You didn't do your job. You were supposed to guard the creek."

"Does it matter? We won just like you wanted," he answered with a smile.

"Luke was hurt. He wouldn't be if you had been doing your job."

"My job of being hurt in his place?" he asked sweetly.

Annabeth blanched.

"Just be honest. Me and Percy were just being used as sacrifices. Our mission was not really to guard the creek, but to draw their attention to us. Else you would have put more experienced fighters here and some children of Apollo taking care from a distance, instead of just the two greenhorns."

"Sacrifices need to be made—"

"If you really thought that, you would have told us our mission outright. Instead, you tried to trick us," Naruto said in a cold tone.

No one was cheering anymore. Even the opponents seemed a bit stunned.

"This may be a game, but we are people, not pieces. I cannot speak for the Hermes cabin, but I refuse to work with you guys until I am able to trust you again. If next game my cabin and yours are allies, I refuse to join."

He then turned around and started walking away.

Only to stop as a silver light started shinning on top of his head.

IIIII

Artemis sighed as she watched the ending of the Capture the Flag game. After all that happened in the Elemental Nations, Naruto seemed to take what the children of Athena did as a personal insult.

But she couldn't blame him. If one of her Hunters made a plan like that, using a newer one as a bait, a scolding would be the least of their problems.

As Naruto walked away, she reached a decision. It would give him some problems, but at least he would be away from the others' judging eyes for the night.

She snapped her fingers, and her symbol appeared above his head.

Then she noticed something wrong.

IIIII

Before Naruto could check what was above him, however, he heard a growl, and felt the urge to grab his glaive. And if there is one thing he learned is to trust these instincts.

The howl that followed and Chiron asking someone to give him his bow also helped know that was not a normal sound.

Above the rocks nearby was a dog the size of a rhenoplos, but by the size of the fangs he could say it wasn't herbivorous like them.  
It also had red glowing eyes. Can't forget the red glowing eyes.

It jumped, not at Naruto, but at Percy. Naruto didn't care that he wasn't supposed to use chakra, he pumped it on his legs and threw himself at Percy, throwing him at the creek while the dog passed harmlessly over them.

But the dog was focused on Percy for some reason, and slashed at his chest, going through the armor like paper and cutting the boy deeply.

Angry at himself for being too slow once again, Naruto jumped on top of the dog and began stabbing with a hunting knife, activating the bracelet on that arm. The knife went through the beast just as easily as its claws went through Percy, something that sickened Naruto, but he knew he had to stop it before it did the same to anyone else so he kept stabbing until the beast fell down.

"Someone get him an ambrosia, some nectar, anything!" he screamed as he left the downed dog.

He didn't bother carving it, he was more worried trying to find a way to save Percy.

Oh wait! He had some potions! And honey! It would be a bit rushed, but it may be enough to save him!

He was stopped from grabbing his scroll by a hand on his shoulder, though. Looking to the side, he saw it was Annabeth pointing at Percy.

It was with relief that Naruto noticed Percy's chest healing itself.

But… why?

Then Naruto noticed the green trident above Percy's head.

"My father…?" Percy asked weakly.

"All hail Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon!" exclaimed Chiron. "And… All hail Naruto Uzumaki, son of Artemis!"

Everyone was silent.

"Figures!" someone from Athena's cabin exclaimed, and Naruto answered by flipping them the bird.

"What was that?" Naruto asked when he finally found his voice back.

"It was Poseydon's symbol, claiming Percy as his son," Annabeth explained.

"Not that," Naruto said, waving his hand at Percy dismissively, " _that_!" he explaimed, pointing at the fading body of the giant dog.

"That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment… but they aren't supposed to be here."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron declared. "Someone inside the camp."

"It was Uzumaki!" Clarisse's voice was heard. "It ignored him when it attacked! He must have been the one to call for it!"

"I can only summon cats and toads," Naruto said dismissively. "And I barely use the toads."

Everyone blinked. That was _not_ the answer they were expecting.

"And… did you summon any of them, child?" Chiron asked, trying to understand what was going on.

"Nope. Even left Ace in the Hermes cabin."

"I see… Could you come with me for now, Naruto? I'd like us to have a talk with Mr. D."

"Sure," Naruto shrugged. If Temie felt it was ok to reveal who he was, he had nothing to hide anymore.

…Maybe. He was sure he was forgetting something important.

IIIII

"So, you lied to us. You lied to _me_ , even already knowing what I could do to you," Mr. D said, a bit angry.

"Eh, not really. It was more half-truths than lies."

"A half-truth is a full lie, Naruto," Chiron chided him.

Naruto shrugged. "It's what I was taught."

Mr. D sighed. He was losing sleep for that.

"Alright then Naruto," Chiron asked, "why did you lie about your divine parent?"

"I didn't. You asked if I knew _which_ was my divine parent. As Temie became my third parent with godly magic but I also had actual mother and father, we have no idea which name we'd give her."

"How does that work?" Mr. D asked, curious.

"Not sure. Goddess of childbirth blessed my mother's womb, so when I was born I sort of was part her but also part the others. I think I'm more of a third-blood than half-blood, if that is possible."

"This is giving me a headache…"

"You're telling me. Besides learning about godsbeing real, I learned about a _different_ set of gods and one of them is a type of parent I never heard happening before."

"So," Chiron tried putting the conversation back on track, "Temie is Artemis' nickname? So whenever you mention her, you were actually talking about Artemis?"

"Yup."

"But how did she teach you so much? Only Mr. D has permission to be with his children for so long, and that's because he works in the camp."

"My cat summons, the Palicos, are from somewhere out of Olympus' reach. While we are there the laws don't apply."

"Are you saying Artemis, serious and rules-following Artemis, deliberately used a loophole… for _you_?" Mr. D asked, obviously not calm.

"Well," Chiron said reasonably, "he isn't being turned into a jackalope so chances are that he is telling the truth, as hard as it is to believe."

"What's a jackalope?" Naruto asked, confused.

"A rabbit with reindeer horns," Mr. D said. "But that's not the point!"

"Well, Temie told me she once had two other males as her Hunters, she only didn't ask me to join because she knew I wanted a family in the future and Hunters must be celibate.  
I think she would have done the same for any of her Hunters."

"You are not a Hunter, though."

"Yeah, I'm not a Hunter of Artemis. But I am also Artemis' son, just like they are her daughters. She may be neither my mom or dad, but she is still my godly parent."

Mr. D was nursing his head as if to get rid of a headache. Chiron seemed to be resisting doing the same.

"…My mom made her also my godmother officially, if that makes it any easier."

"Is there anything you also avoided telling us?" Mr. D asked, in an angry tone that made Naruto gulp.

"Uhm, I have a translation necklace and bracelets that were made by Athena and Hephaestus, so they may know already. Besides that, I don't think there is anything else… Oh wait, I have an evil nine-tailed fox sealed inside me!"

"A… nine-tailed fox?" asked Mr. D, a bit confused.

"An _evil_ nine-tailed fox."

"And what can it do if it gets free?" Chiron asked, apprehensive.

"Well, if it is freed it can be a problem, but as far as I know no one in this land knows how to do it but myself, if I do free it I die, and if I die in any other way it goes with me, so…"

Mr. D nodded. It didn't sound like much of a problem. After all, from the stories nine-tailed foxes were powerful, but were more known for their smarts than raw power, how much of a problem could it be?

IIIII

The mighty nine-tailed demon fox watched the proceedings, annoyed. Let's see if he would help him recover when he needed him later!

The worst part was that it was pretty sure its container was actually sincere and completely forgot it was there…

IIIII

Being dismissed, Naruto wandered the camp for a bit. His things save for Ace were already with him in a scroll, after all.

As he went back to the cabins though, something was different.

"Is that… my house on Capital C?"

There was a copy of his trailer sitting beside cabin eight.

Curious, he approached the trailer, and there he saw the word "Doodle" written above the entrance. Now knowing it was his, he entered calmly.

Inside were Ace in his armor, Calico the healer and the three other Palicos he kept with him instead of in Sunsnug Island.

And, just like in the outside, a perfect replica of his trailer.

"I take it things didn't go well?" Ace asked as he rested his back to the wall.

"They tried using us as bait, but didn't even have the guts to tell us that. I… didn't take it very well."

Ace just nodded.

In the middle of the bed there was a letter from Artemis.

" _Doodle,_

 _I must admit, that was earlier than I had planned to claim you. But your actions forced my hand._

 _But I cannot blame you. Being as focused on loyalty and teamwork as you are, the actions of the members of Athena's cabin must have been much worse for you than for the son of Poseidon._

 _Since the cabin is used by my Hunters whenever we visit the camp, I got you this place. This is a perfect replica of your trailer, so pay attention to what you keep here and there._

… _or just do what you always does and carry it all with you. You cheater._

 _Well, since I already claimed you and Dionysius and Chiron probably already asked you about us, it is my turn to explain it to my Hunters._

 _Wish me luck,_

 _Temie_

Naruto sighed. He had been warned that being declared her son could gain him the enmity of the campers (not that he didn't do a good enough job on his own), but didn't think of what it would cause with her Hunters… he hoped she didn't get in any trouble with them for his sake.

Taking a deep breath, he let himself fall on his back on the bed, not bothering to remove his armor.

Next morning, he felt like he was back in the Leaf during the Academy. Everyone just looking at him from afar and whispering in a way that he could totally hear everything while he sat by himself in table eight.

At least he wasn't alone in this, as people were doing the same to Percy in table three. And it was worse for him, since unlike with Naruto the hellhound had been going for Percy.

Probably because, as his father was one of the Big Three as they were called, his divine scent was much stronger for them.

Since they had their own cabins, for some reason, some of the activities were separated from the others. Naruto missed having sword training with cabin eleven, although Percy was having personal training from Luke for some reason. Annabeth kept giving them both greek lessons, but she was distracted and irritated, Naruto thought it could be for what he told her in the Capture the Flag but the way she acted towards _Percy_ and not him told him otherwise.

That happened for a few days.

IIIII

"This is inconceivable!" roared the voice of Zeus.

"Actually it is the exact opposite," Artemis explained as if to a particularly slow child, "it happened exactly because it is conceivable."

She took a sip of her cup of tea, ignoring her father spluttering in apoplectic rage.

All the other gods but Athena, Hephaestus and Dionysius, who already knew everything, and Aphrodite, who was extremely excited for some reason, looked at her like if she had grown a second head.

"But… but… you swore to remain a maiden…"

"So did Athena, and I don't see you giving her grief for having children."

"But Athena—"

"Who cares about that, it's already done!" exclaimed a happy Aphrodite. "Now tell us, how is the guy who stole Artemis' heart?"

"Oh, that's easy," Artemis said, holding back her laughter. "He got blond spiky hair and sky-blue eyes, and birthmarks on his face. He has a weird sense of humor, but is very upbeat and determined, never letting anything keeping him down, and is very loyal and got his own code of honor, never breaking a promise. But the most important is…"

Aphrodite was almost falling from the edge of her seat.

"…He is my first child, and for that will forever have a special place in my heart."

Aphrodite did fall this time.

"No, I meant the father! The man you had him with!"

"Oh, him? His father was ok, I guess. Looked a bit like the son, but a bit of a sissy. Pretty powerful though. It is the mom I was more friends with though, and you can see her personality in him clearly."

Blinks from everyone not in the known.

"What," Aphrodite finally said.

"Oh. I'm not the mom. But he is my son too. I kind of overblessed the womb of the mother, so he is kind of a third mine."

"Again. What."

Artemis sighed.

"Since I have the domain of Childbirth it is easily conceivable that I could bless a woman to be able to conceive."

"But- but you never did it before! You only helped them _during_ the birth," Zeus said.

"Yes. Which is why this happened. I don't know if it is normal or if I put too much of my divine energy in her womb, but her child was born with part of me in his blood. I am not his mother, and obviously not his father. Not really sure what is the name of what I am to him, only know that I'm also his parent.  
His mom jokingly declared me his godmother, so it is how we address each other."

"Were they married?" Hera asked, seriously.

"They got married just a few days before I blessed her womb. They kept it a secret because of their enemies though."

"I approve of this demigod then," Hera then said, shocking everyone.  
"What? My main problem with demigods is that they make a mockery of my domain. Especially my own husband's. Don't look at me like that Athena, you know full well you never married any of the fathers of your children. Meanwhile Artemis' method _reinforced_ their bond.  
I'm not saying I will go out of my way to help him, just that if we meet he won't be treated as the others."

"Thank you, Lady Hera," Artemis said, with a bow. True, she held a bit of animosity towards Hera for how she treated her own mom, but she understood that it was because she was born from outside the marriage of the _goddess of marriage_ , and her own existence together with Apollo was a personal insult to her.

"Now that this one is dealt with," Zeus said, finally regaining his bearings, "what was so important about the other one?"

"Well," Dionysius started, all humor left him now, "the other one, Percy Jackson—"

IIIII

Naruto awoke to a dark day. It wasn't still night, but there was not much light due to the amount of storm clouds. The amount of lightning was not small either.

But what caught Naruto's attention was that Ace was not standing in the barrel he usually stood on.  
He aways thought it was weird why he did it, but he considered it training so…

He was a bit worried, but shrugged. Ace knew how to take care of himself, or would play his horn if he needed help.

Thus Naruto went to his morning run and training, waving to the Apollo kids and the satyrs playing volley.

Then, some time later, it started to rain. Naruto wasn't overly worried, but he did wonder what they would do with the dinner pavilion to avoid the food getting wet.

Ace digging his way up from the ground and running besides him did not startle him, it was typical really, but the expression on his face did make him stop.

"Something wrong?" he asked, a bit worried.

"The gods are fighting," Ace answered. "Someone stole the symbol of Zeus, and he things it was the kid we helped some days ago. He went to an oracle to get a prophecy so he could go on a quest."

Naruto frowned. He disliked prophecies and fate. The mere fact that he could be forced on his actions instead of them being a result of his choices and actions sickened him.

At least the existence of the Laplace's Demon theory made him feel a bit better. The idea of them not controlling his actions, but just predicting them up to a point gave him hope. Not that it wasn't bullshit, but it was less than controlling him like a puppet.

Before he noticed it, he was standing in front of Chiron, Grover and what he could swear was an invisible person, judging by the mark of feet in the grass. He chalked the fact it wasn't leaving a shape in the rain to divine magic. And he knew of one person with such an item…

"Chiron, Grover, Chase," he said neutrally. Even if he was not on best terms with cabin six, and specifically this girl, he had something more important right now.  
Besides being seen should be humiliation enough.

"Naruto," Chiron said with a smile, "what are you doing here?"

Annabeth resisted the urge to answer, not knowing how he figured out she was there. She stepped as silently as she could to somewhere else.

"I heard Percy is going on a quest. I came to join the team and help him."

"Ah… I was expecting Grover and Annabeth to go, and we do not on teams bigger than three here. It is a sacred number, more than three seems to bring bad luck."

"I'm not superstitious. And actually, I can understand Grover, but why Annabeth?"

"She is a daughter of Athena. That means she got knowledge and plenty of strategic abilities."

"She is inexperienced with danger, unlike me, and even if the knowledge is a good point, since a mission deals mostly with the unknown it deals more with instinctual improvisation than previous planning. Are you sure she is up to it? From what I heard it is a pretty important mission."

"You seen to disagree with my choosing of Annabeth but not of Grover," Chiron said, trying to distract Naruto from the fuming Annabeth. This was the chance she had been waiting for, after all.

"As a satyr he has many abilities that can be useful. I'm known for my improvisation skills already, so all Annabeth would give is the knowledge. Not that it is a bad thing, knowing the opponent can be really helpful, but how can I know she is up to it in the heat of things? As I said, this is supposed to be an important one, not the place for giving new people a taste of the real world… Trust me, from personal experience, chances of freezing are high."

Chiron nodded, not knowing how to refute his words.

"Well, I will give the choice to Jackson, if you don't mind. It is _his_ team, after all."

"Makes sense…" Naruto nods, a bit disappointed. He was almost sure Percy would choose Annabeth, with the obvious crush he had for her.

He wondered if he could sneak after them, though.

It was at that point that Percy returned.

"Well?" asked Chiron.

Percy just let himself fall into a chair. "She said I would bring back what was stolen."

"That's great!" Grover said happily.

"Then why the long face?" Naruto asked then.

Percy sighed before answering:

"Because someone that goes with me will die."

That sobered up Grover. Naruto couldn't see Annabeth, but her feet shifted.

He didn't want to believe though. He would try with his whole being to make those three come back.

Chiron wasn't so quick to sadden either though. "Percy, what exactly did the Oracle said? This is important."

Percy took a deep breath, before repeating the prophecy as best as he could.

"The four shall head west  
To the land devoid of life  
What was stolen will be returned  
But only three will return in glory  
The flame that thrives in the darkness  
Shall face that darkness gives turn to elder light  
A betrayal from a friend  
An ancient evil returns  
Prophecies collide."

"…Prophecies collide?" Chiron asked, confused.

"It could mean that it is going against another prophecy, or that whoever it is that had this vision saw two visions at once?" Naruto tried.

"It makes sense, since it does not rhyme so much…" Grover added.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, pensative. He didn't want to believe in prophecies, but he knew that the "the flame that thrives in the darkness" was probably a reference to a ninja from the land of fire, but what other lines were about him? Was the darkness turning to elder light a good or bad thing? Man, trying to understand prophecies is confusing.

"The oracle's words usually have double meanings. The 'prophecies collide' part and the weird way the rhymes are makes it even more confusing.  
Do not dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."

"Ok," Percy said, taking a deep breath. "So I and three others will go to the west. What is there important in the west?"

"Well," Chiron said, "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"

"Ares, I think," Naruto answered. "I mean, he is the god of war, right? That means that if there is a war he gets stronger. Wasn't there a prophecy that one of the sons of Zeus would overthrow him?"

"Well, the prophecy was later avoided by Zeus breaking up a relationship he was having at the time, and Achilles was born instead, but you are not wrong on the rest…  
But I was thinking more along the lines of someone who held a grudge and has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, and whose kingdom would become more powerful with the death of millions. Someone who would hate his brothers for forcing him into an oath to not have any more children yet the other two broke it. And most importantly, someone whose entrance to his domain is on the west and whose subordinate already went after Percy."

"Hades," Percy finished.

A piece of aluminum fell out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. What?"

"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."

"Yes, but-but Hades hates all heroes," Grover said. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon."

"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron countered. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."

"Wait, how would they figure out he was the son of Poseidon before the attack?"

"Well, you didn't spend all your time with Percy, so they could have figured out with clues you didn't see. Or they could have already been warned by the Fury he defeated, since she did attack him earlier."

"Great," I muttered. "That makes two of the major gods who want to kill me," Percy grumbled.

Naruto couldn't blame him, really.

"But a quest to…" Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."

"I take it the entrance to the Underworld is _not_ in Maine? I'm not good with your culture."

"The most famous city in the west is Los Angeles, California," Chiron said.

"And since the gods follow the culture, it is probably there, uh?" Naruto understood.

"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron brought the topic back on track. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand perfectly the Lord of the Dead's motives, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."

"Whoah, the Oracle just said to go west, we are assuming it means the Underworld. We can't just blame him like that," Naruto countered. "Since he controls the dead I don't even think he _needs_ to have them weakened to start a war anyway, since everyone defeated on his side will come back since they'd be dead and every opponent defeated adds to his own. And most weapons can't affect them anyway. That's the problem with fighting ghosts."

"As I said, I do not understand his motives perfectly. But a war would increase his army and make him much more powerful too.  
Besides, this is just a suspicion. And even if it wasn't, the gods can't enter each other's territories but by invitation. We have no way to _know_ until we send a hero there to check it out. No god can be held responsible for a hero's action, which is why they operate through humans."

Chiron saw Naruto made a face at the word "hero".

"You are saying I'm being used," Percy said.

"I'm saying it is no coincidence that you were claimed by Poseidon now. It is a gamble, but your father is in a desperate situation. He needs you."

Naruto could see the emotions battling each other on Percy's face.

"You knew all along I was a child of Poseidon, didn't you?" Percy finally asked Chiron.

"I had my suspicions. You are not the only one to visit the Oracle."

"So let me get this straight. I am supposed to go to the Underworld face the Lord of the Dead."

"Check," said Chiron.

"Find the most powerful weapon of the universe."

"Check."

"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days.

"That's right."

He looked at Grover, who seemed very nervous.

"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of the year?"

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Percy said, "I can't ask that of you."

"Oh… No… it's just that, satyrs and underground places…" he took a deep breath, "You saved my life Percy. Naruto helped, but you were there first and tried to do it with no experience in monster hunting. If... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."

"All the way, goat-man," Percy replied with a smile.

Then Percy's face fell. "How will I pay for the plane? Do we get some help or—"

"Percy, the open air is Zeus' domain, remember? One of the guys that wants you dead?" Grover reminded him.

Naruto just looked at him confused, not knowing what a plane was.

"Alright, I'll travel through the land then."

"That's right," Chiron agreed. "Also, usually you'd have two companions, but since the Oracle said you would be four… you have two other volunteers, if you accept their hep."

Naruto quickly jumped to Annabeth's side and put his arm over her invisible shoulder, pulling her to him and hearing a surprised gasp from her.

"Naruto? What are you doing?"

"Standing besides my volunteer friend," he replied.

"But there's no one there—"

Annabeth chose then to remove her cap of invisibility and show herself.

"How did you know where I was?"

"You may be invisible, but your feet still push the grass you step on."

Percy made a weird face after seeing the girl.

"Percy, I know you may still be bitter about the Capture the Flag game, but I only read a bit, I don't know that much about the myths and monsters we will be dealing with. She may not be as smart as she thinks, but she has information we don't, and sometimes that can save your life."

Percy sighed. "Well, if you who reacted that badly is alright with her, why would I held a grudge?"

"That's the spirit!"

"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."

Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.

"No time to waste. I think you should all get packing. Naruto, a word please."

Naruto nodded to the others and waited while they went to prepare themselves.

"What about the word 'hero' makes you react badly, Naruto?" Chiron asked now that they were alone.

"I… don't get me wrong, but… I don't believe that heroes are a word that can be used so lightly. I get why most of the ancient heroes are called it after the fact, but the way people here treat it is like being a demigod makes you a hero, while for me it is their actions made _without_ wanting to be a hero. I think… most heroes are already in the Underworld with Hades, or at least got close enough to get there despite not _trying_ to become heroes at the time. Hell, my village has a stone were the name of those who died on missions is called, and those are considered our greatest heroes.  
Being called a hero is supposed to be a result of selfless actions, not something you are born for being. They inspire us not just for their actions and abilities, but for why they use them. The way the word is used here actually makes me feel bad for the ones I really think should be called heroes."

"I see," Chiron said. "You are not wrong."

Naruto waited.

And waited.

"Something wrong?" Chiron asked after a while in silence.

"I'm waiting for the 'but' part."

"There is no 'but' part. The fact is, despite we calling them heroes, there is a difference between heroes and _true_ heroes.  
Do not feel bad for your thoughts. Just learn to separate the truth. As long as you know what a true hero is, you can strive to turn our so-called ones in them. It is what I try to do.  
You can go now. You have preparations to do."

Naruto nodded and left, not noticing a smile on Chiron.

"Of course, some are able to figure it out by themselves."

IIIII

 _Naruto was aroused from his sleep by a sound from outside the ship. Knowing there weren't many people on it, and the only ones were also male, he went outside to check what was going on._

" _Ah, good morning," said a man in a red outfit and a weird hat. "It won't be long, if the Val Habar poured our drinks now, we could reach 'em afore they went flat."_

" _Uh… I have no idea what that means, but I guess that's good?"_

" _Ya want to come here and see for yerself?"_

 _Naruto did so, going for the deck._

" _Just a bit more and you can spot Val Habar in the horizon…"_

" _Was that why there was that sound?"_

"… _what sound?" the red-clad man asked. "Nevermind… I can smell the city from here! Or maybe I've got something stuck in my moustache again? Har har!"_

" _Uh… maybe."_

"… _You weren't supposed to agree, kiddo…" the red-clad man said, a bit saddened._

 _Then he quickly got cheerful again. "Are ya excited? A bustlin' bazaar floatin' on a sea of sand. Ain't nothing or nobody ya can't find there. Even the Gathering Hall is there nowadays!  
This here's what I love about being a Caravaneer – leading a big ol' caravan of trusted companions all over the world…  
Well, the 'trusted companions' part is a big of a work in progress, In fact, that's what brings me to Val Habar. I'm looking to recruit three more companions to join me on my travels."_

" _Just anyone?" Naruto asked, curious._

" _Nah, they've got to have the skills to complete the caravan, of course… but the most important is that they have to be good people I can trust with the rest.  
And whatever you're in the market for, be it good folk, good deals, or good intel, Val Habar is _the _place.  
And the barkeeps don't water down the drinks. Well, not as much as most places, at least… Ahem, but no time for that this trip – I've got companions to hustle up! I won't settle for sorts or layabouts. A caravaneer must put his hopes and dreams in his comrades' hands, ya know?"_

" _You mentioned, you need to be able to trust them with your life and of the others… sounds nice."_

" _Why don't you join me? Aren't you going there to be a Hunter? I need one, my last one moved up in the world."_

" _I'm still learning… In fact, the Palico that is going to teach me, Ace, is taking me to take my license so he could teach me better."_

" _Ace? Could it be the same Ace that—"_

 _The sound that woke Naruto up repeated._

" _That's it! That's the sound that woke me up!"_

" _You have a good ear," the Caravaneer said. "It is that Remobra swarm over yonder," he pointed. "I wonder what seems to have them in a fuss?"_

 _The answer was a gigantic beast jumping from the sands, the wind it generated throwing the Caravaneer's hat away._

 _Naruto only had one reaction:_

" _You have_ got _to be kidding me…"_


	4. Starting on the Wrong Foot

**Thank you all for all the faves, follows and reviews! I'm really into this story right now, and you guys just give me more reason to continue.**

 **This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one, but it was just two day of writing, I just couldn't wait to post it…  
For the Monster Hunter fans, the "tutorial battle" goes until next chapter, after that we will see how Naruto adapts to the Hunting Grounds and after that how he used his new skills in the Elemental Nations.**

 **A reviewer (a guest one) pointed out that the furies did not work just for Hades. I do remember them appearing on Xena, and there they served Ares and Athena instead for a while.  
But that was what was said in the book as an argument by Chiron to convince Percy that Hades was the most likely candidate – and, in this fic, to convince Naruto. If Percy, who was given classes by Chiron at school, did not notice the inconsistency, Naruto who just got some talks with Artemis and read some books while Percy was unconscious would have no hope.  
The same reviewer pointed out something else that will be mentioned next chapter. Hope it is not too much of a spoiler mentioning this. Unfortunately I am not good enough writer yet to make it as big a plot point it could be. I will explain more about my idea of how it can be used next chapter too, free for whoever wants to use it.**

IIIII

 _As the beast rammed the ship, the Caravaneer's hat seemed really lost to the winds._

" _A Dah'ren Mohran! I was afraid of that. When you see a Remobra swarm, ya just know that elder dragon can't be far behind," the Caravaneer said. "What out now, don't fall off the ship!"_

 _The beast rammed the sand ship again, and Naruto could see the Caravaneer's hat – right on top of one of its spikes._

" _Well, no time for that now…" the Caravaneer tries being dismissive, but really seemed to like that hat. "Listen up Hunter! Unless we can stop it, that Dah'ren Mohran'll crush Val Habar like a Huskberry. I'll send a distress call! Try to buy some time..."_

" _Later. I need to do something first!" Naruto replied._

" _What? What?"_

" _Your hat!"_

 _Caravaneer's eyes widened in surprise._

" _Criminy Hunter, ya got some Duranboros-sized… Well, alright them. I'd thank you kindly for it…_ if _you make it back…"_

" _I will."_

 _The Caravaneer nodded. "You can climb on that thing's back from its arm! Wait on the deck, and I'll holler when it's safe!"_

 _Naruto grabbed the mast, waiting for the signal…_

" _Now!"_

 _He run up the enormous arm, crossing the beast's body sidewise to reach that red hat._

" _Good on ya, Hunter! But be careful! Looks like it's fixin' to shake ya off – that Moh'ran ain't no moron!"_

" _Got it! Going back!"_

IIIII

"Well, the Zamtrios set is your strongest one right now, and with those decorations you added it is also the most useful.  
I really wish you would make more armors when you get the chance though. Since space is no problem here where you can use your chakra."

"Yeah, thought so too, Calico, but it is good to have a second opinion."

"Are you sure it is better I don't go?"

"Well, we were only authorized to be in four. I know you guys don't mind 'not counting', but I'd rather avoid annoying the higher powers."

"Higher powers… I remember when it meant the leaders of the guild instead of gods," Ace retorted. "Easier to pretend to have just misheard them…"

Naruto nodded.

"You know, I should have asked Ero-Sennin how to make those blood scrolls… That way I could make one for Percy so he could keep his minotaur horn with him all the time."

"Don't feel responsible for him. When you arrived his mom was already dead, and you probably would have defeated the monster without endangering him if he hadn't jumped on it in rage."

"I know, I know… That's not what I was thinking of."

Ace looked at him curiously.

"When Calico mentioned me being able to use chakra… I barely used more than just to seal and unseal things and to move faster when I fought the bull dude, but still… it feels different. A bit weaker, but easier to control."

"Hmm… We can't help you there. I think the only way to know is by talking with someone else that can use chakra.  
Want me to go to Konoha and ask Jiraiya's opinion?"

"No," Naruto said. "After I finish the camp I will talk with him, but not before. Unless it is something very serious, and this is not serious enough."

Ace nodded.

"Hey, are you going to pray for Temie?" Calico asked.

"Uh? I don't think she can help me during a quest. She can barely spend time with me here in the Olympians World."

Olympians World is how they decided to call this plane, since Naruto's natural one was the Elemental Nations and the Palicos' was the Hunting Grounds.

"But she is the goddess of the hunt, and you are hunting for something, right? At least she may be able to give you some kind of blessing…"

Naruto nodded.

"I wonder what is this place's equivalent of a shrine…"

The two Palicos looked at each other.

"I'm pretty sure we are living inside the closest person the camp has of an Artemis one," Calico said.

With a weird mix of a nod and a shrug, Naruto tried praying like he saw some people do at shrines in Konoha.

" _Oh Artemis, goddess of the Hunt, I apologize for the formality but I am praying for you in official business.  
I am going on a quest in search for a missing item. Since the closest domain I can think of is a hunt, I am praying for your blessing.  
Thank you in advance. I understand if you are not allowed to give us assistance."_

That done, he clapped his hand three times, stood up and put the scroll with his things in the pocket of his jacket.

"Take care of the place, you five!"

All five Palicos nodded.

Naruto then went to the camp store, where they loaned him a hundred dollars, that he put on his pocket, and twenty golden drachmas, which as soon as knowing they were for non-mortal business he sealed in his scroll. Naruto had no idea how valuable those currencies were, so he was going to save as much as he could.

And then he went to meet Chiron.

Soon Annabeth arrived with her magic cap, a book in ancient greek a bronze knife and a backpack with clothes.

Grover on the other hand had, besides his fake feet and hat to hide the horns, just some scrap metal and apples and a set of reed pipes. Naruto wasn't even sure if he was carrying clothes.

Soon Percy arrived. He was carrying just a backpack with a change of clothes and a toothbrush.

"What about the horn?" Naruto asked, confused.

"I left it in my cabin… I used it to avenge my mother, it is my last memento of her. I don't want to lose it."

Naruto sighed, but nodded. Percy was weaponless…

"Do not worry Naruto, I got a gift for Percy that will be even more useful," said Chiron, handing each of the three a canteen and a bag full of squares of what Naruto remembered being ambrosia. That meant that on the canteen was nectar.

"Now, don't drink or eat these save for emergencies, like if you are seriously hurt. It is god food. It will heal you of any injury, but too much and you feel feverish, and if you overdose you will burn to ashes.

Now, Percy, you may remember this," he finished, handing Percy a pen.

Percy looked at it as if not understanding, then his eyes widened. "The sword?"

"Yes. Your father left it with me. I've kept it for years, not knowing who it was for."

Percy slowly uncapped the pen, and it turned into a sword in front of their eyes.

"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron said. "Its name is Anaklusmos."

"'Riptide,'" Percy translated, or so Naruto thought, he understood both but they felt like different words. "Use it only for emergencies, and only against monster. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary." He took a glance at Naruto's direction, happy that after their talk he stopped scowling at the use of the word. "Of course, this sword wouldn't harm them anyway."

"What do you mean it woldn't harm mortals? How could it not?" Percy asked.

"It must be Celestial Bronze. They are a supernatural metal that only affects the supernatural, meaning that to mortals it just passes through them like an illusion, but it works much better than most other things against monster, gods or people with divine blood like us.  
I have these bracelets that turn any weapon I'm holding into a sort of celestial bonze when I turn them on, which is how I cut the bullboy's arm that easily with a glaive of mortal material," Naruto finished, showing the small chains on his wrists.

Percy nodded.

"Now, recap the pen," Chiron told Percy. He did so, putting the cap on the tip, and the sword shortened until it took the shape of a pen again. Percy put it in his pocket, but seemed nervous.

Chiron then explained and showed Percy how the pen-sword could _not_ be lost, being enchanted to always return to his pocket.

"But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?" Percy asked.

"Mist is a powerful thing, Percy," Chiron explained with a smile.

"Mist?"

"An illusion to hide the supernatural from most mortals. It makes people explain in their minds things that shouldn't be happening. I was told some people can control it too."

"That is it, basically. Read the Iliad sometime, it has many references to it.

I will be going first. Say goodbye to everyone and meet me near the exit."

They did so, taking a final look at the camp. Naruto made it his mission to say goodbye to _everyone_ , friendly or not. The only one missing was Luke, who he couldn't find on time.

They went in the direction of the exit, where there was a tall pine tree. There, Chiron was on his wheelchair together with a man in chauffeur's uniform. Naruto noticed he had some extra eyes…

"This is Argus," Chiron said. "He will drive you to the city and, well, keep an eye on things."

Naruto just stared at Chiron, who faced the other way.

But the boy quickly turned, finally seeing Luke, who was running up the hill to them carrying some shoes.

"Hey, glad I caught you!"

"Where were you, man? I looked for you everywhere!" Naruto asked.

"I was getting these," he answered, lifting the shoes. "They could be useful."

He handed them to Percy, but they looked like normal shoes.

Then he said "Maia" and they grew wings, making Percy drop them.

"Flying shoes? Cool!" Naruto said.

"Awesome!" Grover agreed.

"Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from my father," Luke told them. "Of course, I don't use them much these days."

"Why not?" Naruto asked? "Sure, you haven't been to quests, but it is still flying shoes."

"…Bad memories," he answered simply, and Naruto nodded in understanding.

Naruto left Luke say his goodbyes to the other three, before shaking his hand and letting the older boy leave.

He then let Percy tease Annabeth about her obvious crush for a bit (as if his wasn't just as obvious).

He was smart enough to figure out he wouldn't be able to use the shoes though, so he gave them to Grover.

They then started talking history… well, mythology. At that point, Naruto decided to leave them and went to the vehicle they called "van".

The world outside was as alien to Naruto as it was supposed to be, being, well, a different world. Lots and lots of cars walking around at high speeds carrying people without anything pulling them was a big surprise at first.

"So far so good," Percy said, "ten miles and—"

"Finish the sentence and I will hurt you," Naruto said.

"What? Why?"

"It is bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain," Annabeth explained.

"Remind me again, why do you hate me so much?" Percy asked the girl.

"I don't hate you."

"Could have fooled me."

"Look, we're just not supposed to get along, ok? Our parents are rivals."

Naruto chose that time to enter the conversation.

"And what does that have to do with you and him?"

"What do you mean what that has to do with us? They are our parents!"

"Exactly. Your parents. Not you."

Annabeth looked at him like he had just insulted her.

"Look, I understand wanting to make your parents proud of you. But you are not their clones. Neither of you is. That means that you do not have to dislike who they dislike, and even if you do blaming their children for their actions is stupid."

Annabeth looked down, deep in thought.

"Do not hate each other because your parents do. Hate each other because Percy is an idiot and Annabeth thinks being smarter makes her better than others."

Both kids looked at him angrily.

"See? You are both wanting to murder me for my own actions," he said with a smile.

Grover snorted.

Some time later, at sunset, Argus dropped them at a station here they would take a bus.

Naruto noticed Percy rip a flyer out of a mailbox with a picture of him asking for information.

"Only you? Not your mom?" Naruto asked as gently as he could.

"Since the car was found broken and neither of us was seen since then, my stepfather, Smelly Gabe I call him, has been blaming me for the disappearance. He always treated mom like trash and saw me as an annoyance. I have no idea what she saw in him."

"She was with him to protect you, Percy," Grover said from behind them.  
"You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura... Guh. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."

"Thanks. Where's the nearest shower?" Percy asked.

"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy, if that makes you feel any better."

"I doubt it…" Naruto said.

"Yeah, now I feel worse for having her suffer him for my sake."

While they waited for the bus, Percy, Grover and Annabeth started playing with an apple, while Naruto went to take a look around the station.

He found something in a store that put a smile on his face. He just had to buy it.

After a while the bus came, and they started boarding it… until Grover started smelling the air.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"I don't know, maybe it's nothing," he answered.

"I don't think so. My instincts are warning me of something wrong, and I learned to trust them…" Naruto said.

"Mine too," Percy agreed. "What do we do?"

"Pretend you didn't notice. This will give us an advantage, they'll thing we will be surprised."

Naruto sat in the front of the bus, while the other three found seats together in the back.

He noticed that, as a group of old ladies passed him, they tensed a bit, but were more focused on the ones in the back.

He did his best to pretend he didn't notice. If they tensed when they saw him, that meant their target was the other demigods…

The three just sat down, not too far from Naruto. He was sure they knew the demigods noticed them, but they were clearly ignoring Naruto.  
Probably thought Naruto didn't know about the camp, or maybe the one Percy defeated was focused on him.

After they entered a tunnel and the bus was mostly dark, the three old women said – very unconvincingly – that they had to use the bathroom and moved to the back.  
Naruto just palmed two kunais from the pouch in his leg and followed them silently from a small distance.

Then the three turned into monsters wielding fiery whips. "Where is it?" they asked furiously.

Naruto quickly ran forward with speed fueled by chakra and activated the bracelets, making the kunais glow silver. However no one was able to notice in time as they sand deeply in the back of two surprised furies, who turned into dust without knowing who attacked them.

Then the bus went out of control.

Naruto had no idea what was going on as the bus swerved left and right, but when it started spinning just to crash into trees he was _sure_ there was something wrong.

The people were leaving the bus in a hurry, but the Fury was keeping Annabeth and Grover from doing the same.

Then Percy appeared from near the door, holding Annabeth's cap and getting the final Fury's… Mrs. Doods? Really? attention, and she stalked in his direction, ignoring the other three demigods while claiming Percy offended the gods and so would die. Percy answered by "unsheathing" Riptide.

After some small banter, Mrs. Doods tried attacking Percy with her whip.

You ignore Naruto at your own peril.

Before Mrs. Doods could finish her attack, she was his by a ball of spinning energy on her gut and thrown past Annabeth and Grover to the back of the bus.

Then a thunder was heard.

"Get out! Now!" Annabeth screamed. Naruto didn't wait and grabbed the two, pulling them in Percy's direction and outside.

Some time later, Grover noticed the lack of something:

"Our bags! We left our—"

Then lightning his the bus, and the windows exploded.

"I think it'd be better to forget the bags… Sorry about your flute though," Naruto said, looking at his hand.

"Nah, it was in my pocket."

A wailing was heard coming from the wreckage.

"She is calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!" said Annabeth.

The four went through the woods through the darkness, leaving the bus and Mrs. Doods behind.

"This way," Naruto called, leading the way as fast as he could with three civilians, even if demigods and a satyr. For some reason his vision was pretty clear. A blessing by Temie?

"Three Kindly Ones," Grover said still in shock after a while. "All three at once."

He then turned to Naruto.

"And you took care of them like if they were nothing."

"I took them by surprise. Now less talking and more walking."

"He is right," Annabeth agreed, "the farther we get away, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy said in a defeated tone. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Actually I'm still with all I had with me. We may need to get some clothes, but I still got ninety dollars and all my drachmas."

"Wait, ninety? Weren't you loaned a hundred?"

"I had to buy something," he said, a bit embarrassed. He went a bit ahead of them, but made sure they could follow him

The other three soon started talking about themselves, and Naruto was able to slow down and thing about _himself_ , looking at his hand.

What the hell was going on with him?

"You seem to be looking at your hand a lot," Annabeth said. "Your first time using that power?"

"No, not really. But it was different than usual. I'm… usually not skilled enough to use as easily as I did there, but on the other hand it usually packs more of a punch. I just can't get it…"

Annabeth kept quiet for a bit.

"You seem to be guiding us pretty well through the forest."

"Oh, I prayed for Temie, Artemis, for help, since we are hunting for something. I think she gave me a blessing to see easier in the dark."

Annabeth nodded.

"So…" Naruto asked this time, "We still going for Hades?"

"Uh?" Annabeth asked, confused.

"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but the three were looking not exactly for Percy, but for something. The only thing I can think of is the Lightning Bolt. Why would they be asking us for it if Hades had it?"

Annabeth thought about this for a bit.

"It changes our questions, but not our destination. The Oracle just said to go west, so it is our only clue."

Naruto nodded. That was true, they had no other idea of where to go.

After some time, they were able to see some colored light ahead, and smell some food. It wasn't particularly appetizing to Naruto, being from the Leaf Village and later eating mostly meat he hunted or from the Street Cook, but Percy seemed pretty happy by it.

"So… do you guys want to go there?"

He got nods. Even from Annabeth and Grover. Naruto wasn't happy, having linked forests with safety as long as they weren't named "of Death" due to his village being surrounded by them, but he accepted it.

They followed the light and smell, until getting near a road. There were some businesses on the other side, but only one of them open.

"What's a garden gnome?" Naruto asked.

"It is a small statue people use to decorate their gardens, usually in the shape of a gnome," Annabeth explained.

"Why?" asked Percy back.

"Because the only open store is 'Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium' and I don't see how that would mean food."

"Sometimes stores near gas stations like this one specialize in other things, but still have food and drink for the customers that visit it."

Naruto nodded in understanding, but the store still looked weird to him, as if there was something wrong…

Percy crossed the street right away, followed by Annabeth.

"Hey," Grover called.

"The lights are on inside, maybe it's open," Annabeth said, ignoring him.

"Snack bar," Percy said.

"Snack bar," she agreed.

"Are you two crazy? This place is weird!" Grover tried to call for them.

Agreeing with him, Naruto made two clones, answering Grover's surprised look with a "later", and made them trade places with the other two.

With a blink at noticing where they were, and the two other Narutos where they were supposed to be disappearing in smoke, the two turned to their orange-clad companion.

"How did you do that?" Annabeth asked. "I never heard of a Hunter of Artemis having these powers, and it is the same for them as being turned into her daughters so your powers were supposed to be related to them."

"Oh, I'm a ninja before I am a Hunter," Naruto answered with a shrug.

The other three blinked.

"A ninja? Seriously?" Percy asked excited.

"Yup. Right from the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Annabeth blinked.

"Do you have anything to do with flames?"

"Yeah, the village is in a place known as Land of Fire, the leader's name – that I plan to become someday – is called Fire Shadow in your language, and we have a personal belief called the Will of Fire. Also, one of the founding clans had a very high ability for using fire techniques."

This time, Percy blinked. "Why call it the Village Hidden in the Leaves then?"

Naruto shrugged. "The leader of the other founding clan was able to use a special technique that made a gigantic forest grow up in a day. Besides, the villages are usually named for their locations, with Cloud being in mountains, Sand in the desert, Mist in the sea and Rock… ok, I have no idea about Rock."

"The prophecy!" Annabeth said. "The line about 'the flame that thrives in the darkness' must be about you!"

"But the other one related to it is 'shall face that darkness gives turn into elder light'… And that doesn't sound good," Percy pointed out.

"That aside, it isn't so useful now that we are already in the quest," Naruto said. "Now, the part that is more important—"

"What about the clones, or the teleport?"

"Switching is a basic ninja skill, the clones are a secret technique I learned because I'm terrible with making illusion ones. But more important, what were you doing going there like that? Even ignored Grover when he called you!"

The other two looked at the ground, ashamed.

"We were feeling hungry…" Percy finally said.

"Then you should have told us. You knew I still had everything I came with."

"You don't seem to be carrying much with you," Percy pointed out. "Especially food."

As an answer, he pulled out his scroll and summoned two sticks with meat for them.

"Here, a well-done meat. Or do you like rare more?"

The two looked surprised at the scroll.

"I'm vegetarian," Grover said.

"I have an energy drink, made with honey and some choice mushrooms. It doesn't fill me as well as meat, but…"

"Deal!" Grover agreed, taking the container of home-made drink and drinking it. "Wow, I feel like I won't sleep for hours!"

"Good. Now, we all agree that there is something weird about that place?"

"Yes… even when hungry I wouldn't act like that," Annabeth said, and Percy nodded in agreement.

"…Think we should check it out?" Naruto asked.

The other three looked at him weirdly.

"Didn't you just—" Percy started.

"You were acting weird. Now we _know_ something there is wrong. But they don't know we know.  
Besides, we can't let anyone else be caught in their trap."

The other three nodded, and after finishing their food they went to the front of the store.

It was surrounded by statues. Even had a satyr.

"Baa-haa-haa, looks like my uncle Ferdinand." Grover said. "I smell monsters."

"We expected that. Any idea of a monster obsessed with statues?"

"Medusa," Annabeth answered. "She has snakes for hair, and can turn whoever looks into her uncovered face directly into a statue."

"Uncle Ferdinand…" Grover said, sadly.

"From their poses, I don't think they looked at her on arrivel. She will try to trick us."

The other three nodded, and Annabeth wore her cap.

As soon as they approached the door, it opened. There was a woman wearing a long black gown that covered everything but her hands and her head was veiled, with eyes under a curtain of black gauze.

"Children, it is too late to be out all alone, where are your parents?"

"We were at a summer camp," Naruto took over. "We were doing an excursion but the bus broke nearby. We volunteered to look this way for a way to call for help."

"I'm sorry, the phone isn't working. I already called for someone to fix it, but it takes some days before they come here in the middle of nowhere.  
But enter, why don't you eat something?"

"Thank you. Do you serve vegetarian food? Grover is one."

"I will see what I can do. The dining area is in the back."

On the way there were many more statues, with different expressions, poses and clothes.  
Especially the expression. Most of them seemed a mix of startled and terrified.

Definitely Medusa.

Especially as she locked the door after they entered.

She after a bit brought a tray with three double cheeseburgers, milkshakes and a bucket of fries. Naruto ate one of the burgers she gave them. He left the fries for Grover (although the goat-boy seemed a bit nervous as he ate) and Percy, and from the way some disappeared, Annabeth.

"Not going to eat your burger, Percy?" 'Aunty Em' asked.

"I had a bag of chips and gave them to him earlier," Naruto answered. "He must be mostly full."

"Yeah… do you mind if I take it to go?"

"Oh, no problem. I was thinking you could stay the night though, since it is getting quite late," 'Aunty Em' replied.

"Sorry, our bus should be fixed soon… it's better if we go back quickly, by the way."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that… I am so lonely here… Ever since the highway was built there are not many customers coming this way. I must treasure every customer I get."

Percy looked around, seeing a statue of a little girl. Seeing the expression on her face and knowing who 'Aunty Em' was made his stomach twist. What _were_ they doing there.

"Ah. You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face," she said sadly.

"You make these statues yourself?" Percy asked, resisting the urge to cringe. He expected her to act proud.

The sadness in the words of her answer surprised him though.

"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company."

"What happened?" he couldn't help himself asking.

"It's a terrible story. Not one for children, really. You see, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a… a boyfriend, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."

Naruto closed his eyes. From the little he had read, Medusa had been a priestess of Athena who was seduced by Percy's father and had… done the deed inside her temple. Insulted, the goddess turned her into what she is now. He could understand Athena's anger, but…

Yet, he looked around. Medusa was out of control, turning people in stone to have some company. She became a rabid dog, a monster that would not stop until killed.

"We really should go," he said, standing up. Percy and Grover followed, a bit confused.

"Please, dears, I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"Will it take long?" Naruto asked, visibly sad. For 'Aunty Em' it seemed to be because he was leaving, Percy and Grover were confused. Naruto was saddened because that was the point of no return for her.

"I will just take a photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

That clinched it. Naruto _had_ to stop her.

He stood in the middle, hands on the top of the heads of Percy and Grover. His eyes were closed and his smile wide.

"Open your eyes, Naruto dear. They are so beautiful, but I can't see them like this."

"But this is my trademarked smile…" Naruto complained, but complied. His eyes opened a bit, his smile becoming smaller and a bit more sad.

"Perfect. Now just stay still… _GYAH!_ "

As the monster moved her hand to remove her veil, Annabeth chose that moment to stab the back of Medusa with her knife.

Naruto wasted no time, pushing the heads of the other two down and advancing on her while her back was turned, but quickly closed his eyes on instinct as the woman pulled it out and turned. He threw himself to the ground, being scratched on his side by sharp claws, but luckily he had been quick enough to avoid a really damaging wound.

"Maia," Naruto heard Grover scream, and the goat boy flew above his head, pushing the monster woman away, but he heard a crash as the boy flew against a statue. Possibly was flying with the eyes closed.

Naruto stood up and grabbed two kunais, activated his bracelets and went for the attack… as good as he could, having his eyes closed. He did better than expected though. He had no idea if his hits were damaging her, but he could feel a pressure in the kunais showing they were hitting _something_.

He got as good as he gave though, maybe worse.

Then suddenly he heard Grover's voice.

"Naruto! Duck!"

He rolled down away, and heard something heavy crossing the air. "That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover screamed as Naruto heard the impact and Medusa screaming in rage.

After the second hit sound, Naruto charged again, hitting her in the stomach with his head and trying to stab her. But she grabbed his hands and started trying to turn them, trying to make him stab himself.

He pushed as much chakra in his arms as he could, but her strength was enormous.

Then, he heard the sound of a sword cutting the air he memorized from the battle against Zabuza, and a meaty "thunk".

He felt the body under him turn to dust and disappear.

"Don't open your eyes!" Annabeth screamed, then grabbed something from the grass.

"You can open them now," she said some time later. In her hand was something wrapped in Medusa's veil, dripping a green liquid. Naruto knew what it was though…

Percy was holding a green glass ball that worked as a mirror. Must be how he knew where to cut.

"Are you all okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Percy answered.

"Me too," said Grover.

"Just some scratches. I just need to change my clothes," said Naruto.

"Why didn't the head evaporate?" Percy asked.

"It is a spoil now. Same as the horn you left at the camp," Naruto explained. "Don't unwrap it though. If I remember right it can still turn people to stone."

"Yes, Perseus used it to turn a sea monster when he saved Andromeda," Annabeth confirmed.

"I thought it was his mom's suitors or something like that? Well, doesn't matter. I'll go change my clothes and treat the scratches. While I do it why don't you make some hot food for us to take with us? My scroll is top quality, will keep them warm for a long time."

That said, he left to do so.  
Well, to change his clothes. His wounds were healed on the way there already.

When he got back, it was to see Percy filling a slip next to a package. He watched the process as the package was sent, and while Percy and Grover talked about it he grabbed a second slip, sending in secret the thing he bought at the station.

Or at least he hoped so. Annabeth's smile gave him the impression it wasn't so secret.

"So, anyone checked her office yet?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"I did," Percy said. "There was the address for the Underworld, twenty dollars and a few Drachmas. And some slips for Hermes Overnight Express."

"Keep some of the slips with you. After we find the bolt we can send it through Hermes instead of having to go back all the way in a hurry."

Everyone looked at him wide-eyed.

"Did I say something wrong?"

IIIII

Artemis just looked at what she just received from Hermes.

A Mythomagic figurine.

 _Her_ Mythomagic figurine.

And it came with her card too!

That only reminded her of what she still had to do, though… Something she had been putting off.

Telling her Hunters about Naruto.

She left her tent, and her hunters stopped whatever they were doing to look at her. She didn't really ask that of them, and after spending some time with Naruto's natural irreverence such worship actually saddened her a bit. She saw her Hunters as her daughters, but they still saw her as a goddess.

Resisting the urge to sigh, she set down in front of the fire where tonight's soup was boiling. Her lieutenant promptly stood beside her.

"Zoë, tell everyone I have something important to tell after dinner," she said. The lieutenant nodded and went to warn everyone.

Dinner was a normal affair. The meat was fresh and healthy, just hunted. The vegetables were bought at a greengrocer, but since they were nomads they couldn't get them any other way but stealing from farms (something they woudn't do) anyway.

"My Hunters. My daughters."

That declaration made the Hunters smile. She smiled back. It felt good for her too whenever she said it out loud.

"I have something important to tell you, but first I must first remind you of some facts so it does not come as such a surprise."

That made them look at her with worry.

"Now, what do you know about demigods?"

"They are the mortal children of gods with mortals, mostly had just for lust. Athena, as a chaste goddess like yourself, makes hers through her mind abilities with those she fancies," Zoë replied.

"And they think that just because they have a god as a parent they are supposed to be special and be treated as such," said another Hunter, one who despite her words is actually a demigod. Or maybe because of being one she could say her words. She knew that her Hunters had had bad experiences at Camp Half-Blood whenever she left them there, but it seemed the dislike ran deeper than she thought.

"Now, do you remember my domains?"

"You are the goddess of the Hunt, the Moon, Chastity, Animals and the Wilderness, my lady."

"There is one missing," Artemis pointed out. The most important for that conversation.

"Oh, and Childbirth. Sorry my lad—"

Noticing that Artemis brought special attention to that, especially after mentioning demigods, made Zoë go pale. Looking around, it was clear the others figured it out too.

"H-how long…" it the due date, she was struggling to ask.

Artemis took pity on her, despite her faces being humorous.

"It was thirteen years ago. While I visited another world in a hunt."

She could see the hunter with her for that long remembering that time, and confusion set in their minds.

"My lady, you were not there for long enough for carrying a pregnancy… how…"

"I took a page from Athena's book, in a way. Worry not, I am still chaste."

The hunters looked clearly relieved.

"While there, I met a woman, a warrior who was wounded in her womb and was almost impossible for her to have a child. I did not know it was possible, but at her request I blessed her womb to make her fertile.

I recently went back there and met her son, and confirmed that he is, in a way, also mine. My first demigod."

The Hunters were silent, but she could see they were envious of Naruto. Some were actually hostile, having had bad experiences with males.

"His parents were killed in a disaster, a mighty beast attacked the land the very day of his birth and he was made a sacrifice to stop it, having it sealed inside his body. But mortals can be stupid, and most avoided him in fear of the beast escaping or taking over. He was ignored or treated coldly in order to push him away from them, and thus he grew up wanting recognition… He became a soldier for his land, dreaming of rising up the ranks and become the leader of them and be respected."

She could feel pity from the Hunters, but also resignation on him being like other Demigods.

"Until one fateful meeting with an opponent where they shared their views, and he was taught not to work for the sake of recognition, but to fight to protect those who already recognized him. The dream was the same, to become the leader of his village, but his motivation changed."

She saw some Hunters held relief, but most of them held doubt.

"When I left you some time ago, I was visiting him. He was in the hospital for injuries gained trying to rescue a teammate he saw as a brother, but that in the end turned traitor for the sake of gaining power."

Again, some of them held pity, a few, the younger, seemed even to be holding back tears. For most of them though, it was an impersonal story. Even if it was a relative of hers, they didn't know Naruto themselves after all, and she had to admit her storytelling as not her forte.

"I explained to him that I was a kind of third parent to him, and that he inherited some of my divine abilities. We spent some time together learning about each other, since we were somewhere outside the Olympian reach and thus not held back by the ancient laws, and I convinced him to come to Camp Half-Blood to learn about the abilities he got from me."

She took a deep breath and sighed.

"I am not asking you to accept him outright. I am just asking to try to be as open as you can to the possibility of developing a friendship. I believe that in time he may prove himself and you will also see him as part of our family."

"My lady," asked Phoebe, "does that mean he may join the Hunt?"

Artemis knew she had always been distrustful of Orion. But she also had no problem with Hippolytos as far as she knew, so maybe the problem was Orion himself?

"No. He has a wish to one day have a family, since he was an orphan. To become a Hunter, even a male one, he would need to swear to remain chaste, something that would stop him from doing so."

Phoebe nods, and the Hunters join to have a conversation. Artemis waits patiently, already knowing what they had decided.

A small malicious smile enters her face as she hears their decision being just as she expected.

She spent too much time with Naruto to be reacting like that…

"So, what did you girls talk about," she asks, changing her smile a bit to make it look benevolent.

"My lady," Zoë says, "we will give him a chance on your word… but we would like to know him and test him before he is accepted fully."

"I see nothing wrong with that. Do be careful though, this is just a test after all. Let us be careful not to hurt anyone."

'Especially yourselves.'

IIIII

" _All right, I need ya to buy some time!" The Caravaneer said, eyeing Naruto with his hat. "Showerin' it with cannonballs should give it something to think about."_

 _Naruto got the idea, and went to the back of the ship to get a heavy ball to put in the cannon on the side with the dragon._

" _I'm counting on ya!"_

IIIII

Percy was the second to last to be on guard, the first been Grover (who couldn't sleep that soon after taking the energy drink Naruto made) and the second being Naruto.

They were sleeping in a four-person tent Naruto had, but not on the wild, but inside Medusa's lair. Naruto's reasoning was that there they had resources, and most of the entrances were visible. The other possible entrances – someone barreling through the wall – would mean whatever it was wouldn't be slowed down much by trees anyway.

He had just woken Annabeth up and was going to sleep when Annabeth held his wrist.

"Wake Grover up while I grab as much as we can take. And be silent."

"What's wrong? And what about Naruto?"

"It's because of Naruto that we have to be silent. It is near daytime, his powers must be weaker during it since we only saw him use them at night. If we want to ditch him, it has to be now."

"D—" Percy holds back on yelling it in surprise, "ditch him? Why would we do that?"

"Did you forget your own prophecy?" Annabeth asked, exasperated. "'Only three will return in glory, The flame that thrives in the darkness shall face that darkness gives turn to elder light, a betrayal from a friend'. Only three of us will succeed, one of us will betray the others, he is clearly the flame that thrives in the darkness and the sun is probably the elder light.

I am saying I think Naruto must be the one going to betray us."


	5. Confrontations

**...I think I may be writing too much for this story... I neither read other stories or played MH4U while writing this chapter and 4 but the beginning to be able to be loyal to the opening.**

 **Alright, this time there is an Author's Note at the ending too. Because saying it at the beginning may be a spoiler.  
Not that it may be hard to imagine from last chapter, but I'd like to avoid it if I can.**

 **And people really thought Annabeth was being stupid on her idea to ditch Naruto, judging by the number of reviews saying so. Yet no one seemed to think I made her OoC. This at the same time speaks well of my ability to write and badly of her popularity among the fandom…**

IIIII

" _Great job Hunter! But we're almost at Val Habar. It's time to pull out all the stops! Mohrans got sensitive ears – it's how they monitor the surface when they're in the sand. Loud noises give 'em fits."_

" _I don't think I can scream that loud!"_

" _No, let it get as close as possible, then ring the Hunting Gong on the ship's deck. That oughta send it reeling._

 _Thing is, I need a little more time to get the gong ready."_

" _Got it. Keep distracting it."_

" _No, try to keep near the gong switch, and when I give the sign get ready to give that holler a wallop!"_

" _Oh… ok!"_

 _Naruto grabbed a nearby pickaxe. Not long after, the elder dragon started trying to jump over the ship._

" _Now"_

 _Naruto did not have to be told twice. The gong made the monster throw itself away._

 _Soon, he heard a second, far away but louder gong. Four other ships heard it and started attacking the Dah'rem Mohran._

IIIII

Naruto's eyes opened as soon as the door closed.

He could understand being the suspect, but it still hurt a bit. Grover and her seemed to know each other for years. Percy and Grover were friends even before Percy knew he was a demigod. And Percy… why would he betray his own quest?

But… if she was right and there was going to be a betrayal, he was the most likely candidate. An outsider, trained to keep secrets and lie (even if bad at it). That already kept hidden being Temie's relative.

Besides, the prophecy said only three would return with glory, and later said there would be a betrayal. He didn't believe in them much and would do his best to avoid the worst parts, but for someone that did believe in them it made sense thinking the traitor was one of the four.

She _was_ the daughter of the goddess of wisdom. Of course she had a point. But…

Wait, Athena was not _just_ the goddess of wisdom, was her?

He was already going to follow them under a henge from a distance. If he was right he needed to be much coser.

IIIII

Percy looked behind again.

He was feeling guilty for what they did. Naruto was nothing but helpful. Damn, he seemed to be smarter than Annabeth herself sometimes.

To try to feel better, he tried to talk with Grover, who also seemed in a bad mood. Their talk went from the state of the pollution in the world to Grover's wish to search for Pan like his relatives before him, then about what Annabeth told Grover about her conclusions with Naruto.

Hearing about Annabeth and Naruto gave him a weird feeling. On one night they were talking about their suspicions, as if they were friends, and the next one made them leave the other behind.

"I know, I don't like it either," Grover said. "As far as we know, _this_ could be the betrayal the prophecy was talking about. I mean, it is kind of a big one, abandoning someone. But if it isn't, I have to agree with Annabeth. I know her for years, and I know you too. He is the only one I _can_ suspect…"

"Stupid prophecy…"

Grover tensed, and Percy thought he would say something about disrespecting prophecies. But then he saw what Grover did.

A walking _pink_ stuffed animal was approaching them.

IIIII

Naruto did not know the range of a satyr's emotion sensing, and tensed when he saw Grover did. He had thought he either was out of range or Grover was ignoring him on purpose.

Then he saw the talking poodle and released his breath. Quietly.

…Who calls their dog Gradiola though?

IIIII

The others delivered the poodle (Naruto was envious, his experience with Tora were the stuff of nightmares) and took a train. He didn't know how precise the emotion-sensing of the satyr was, but in a full train it wouldn't be as precise as usual so he just transformed into a grumpy older teenager, bought a ticked and sat nearby them but not exactly with them. He didn't attract their attention once as far as he knew, but noticed Percy seemed a bit paranoid and restless. He couldn't say if it was for monsters, Naruto himself or the fact he was in the newspaper though.

And from the conversation he overheard about his dream, whoever it was in them, 1- was not Hades and 2- did not have the bolt but wanted it to get free? Or both it and getting free?

Annabeth didn't seem to trust Hades either way, though. She seemed like pushing them to think it was really him at fault despite all points in the other way.

Naruto suspected that either she had bad experiences with him, or…

He then heard about her life. It seemed like all she had still were her mother and a couple of friends.

His suspicions just got stronger.

They soon left the train, going to see an Arch. He once more stood away hearing their conversations. Seemed like Hades had a helmet that lets him not only become invisible, but become darkness itself…

Uh… another darkness allusion, uh? And it was in the same reunion Annabeth and the others went to, the one when the bolt disappeared…

IIIII

Percy always felt bad in confined spaces. Being in a tiny elevator that made curves, with Annabeth, Grover, and an unknown middle-aged businessman that looked at them from the sides as if they were idiots, did not help.

Getting to the top made Percy even more nervous, but he followed the other two until the announcement that the Observation Deck was closing.

There was no room for him to get down, though, since there were already two other people there, so he was stuck in the top with the middle-aged man that seemed even more frustrated, a fat lady with a chichuahua and a little boy with his parents.

Then, before he could even understand what was going on, there was a pain in his ear. The businessman had pulled it to his side, and began speaking in it in an annoyed voice.

"You idiots. I leave you alone for a while and not only you come to somewhere high up while you father is arguing with the god of the skies, you let them leave you alone! What if I was a monster?"

"N-Naruto?"

"You are lucky it is me. Damn it, is that how Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei feels when I'm being an idiot? I really need to apologize to them…"

"Is there some something wrong here?" the park ranger asked.

"My nephew here thought he could escape his grounding by tricking me to bring him and his friends here. I waited until they left to give him an earful."

"Oh, I see," the ranger said, leaving them alone.

Naruto let go of Percy's ear, and looked around, getting a smile from the fat lady. Her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.

"Damn it… Percy, pen!"

Her Chihuahua jumped down from her lap, barking at the two.

"Now, now, sonny. Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here," the lady said.

The boy got happy at seeing the dog, but the parents pulled the boy back, since it was foaming from the mouth.

"Well, son, if you insist."

Naruto had no idea who they could be, but knew that was bad news.

"You know, giving your son everything he wants whenever he wants is not what I can call the best parenting…"

"Wait," Percy asked, "are you saying that Chihuahua is her son?"

"Chimera, dear," the lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

"Disguise, Percy," Naruto said, as the dog grew. "They are not human. …Or dog. The pen. Now!"

Percy did so, pulling out the cap with trembling hands, while Naruto returned to his real form with his glaive in hands. A different one from the one he used in the Capture the Flag, with two fang-like blades instead of one.

The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a bloodcaked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail. The dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA-RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT. 954.

The mother made a hissing noise, and the two now noticed she looked much more like a snake hybrid.

"Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

"Isn't that a kind of anteater?" Percy could only ask.

"Actually it eats ants but is not related to them," Naruto replied, "being closer to the platypus due to laying eggs… how the hell do I know that?"

She howled in rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me."

"Specially as you are a mother and it is famous for its four-headed—"

"Boy! There is a child present!"

"Oh. Sorry."

Meanwhile, the chimera charged Percy, who jumped to the side and opened a gash on its side.

"So… since this is just a test, that means that your son is not trying to kill him for real… right?"

"Oh, no! If he is to be a real hero he is going to win. If not, why let him live in disgrace?"

The chimera launched a column of fire, opening a hole in the side of the Arch.

"Uhm… I'm a big believer in that people can improve themselves after a failure, so I'll have to help Percy in this one…"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that."

"Well, then I guess we will have to fight too."

"Yes, I guess we will."

That said, Naruto put his glaive on the ground and… jumped backwards in Percy's direction.

"I have someone to save. I have no time to fight you!"

"Are you running away? Coward!" Echidna screamed as she ran after Naruto. "The gods will know of your cowardice!"

"So be it! I have more important things to care about than their opinion!"

Naruto then used the glaive as a pole vault to jump over Chimera's tail and stabbet it in the left tigh.

The beast growled in pain, and Percy tried to take advantage of it and cut its head off like he did with Medusa.

Keyword: tried. The blade bounced on the collar, leaving him open. Naruto tried hitting the tail as it lashed on the other boy, opening the gash in the Chimera's tight, but the head was still able to bite Percy before the tail was cut off.

"Damn it!" Naruto screamed in frustration. Percy was probably poisoned.

Then he eyed the hole in the wall.

"Percy, the river! You can heal in the water!"

"What?" Percy yelled in surprise, clearly in pain. He looked at the river, then at Naruto and the normal people still there.

"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and heal. Prove your bloodline."

"Don't worry Percy! I'll buy time for them!" Naruto screamed, as he made four clones who went to protect the normal people.

Yet, Percy held himself back.

"You have no faith," Echidna said. "You do not trust the gods. You do not trust you comrade. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."

"For f… Percy, I'm throwing you!"

Naruto made a fifth clone and it ran as fast as it could, ramming Percy and throwing them both outside the Arch and into the water.

"Well… that's that," Echidna said, returning to the form of a fat lady and Chimera returning to the form of a Chihuahua. "You can keep the tail if you want."

"Wait, what?"

"Our mission was to test Percy Jackson. I must say, he is still inexperienced, but I can see some potential. You on the other hand got the experience. You could win if we continued if it was just Chimera."

"…Are you saying it is over?"

"For now. Maybe we will meet again."

Echidna left with chimera and the confused family.

Not wanting to wait for the next ride, Naruto went down by walking on the wall outside.

IIIII

Percy told Grover and Annabeth the whole story. How Naruto was the middle-aged businessman. How the lady and her dog turned into monsters. How Naruto threw him from the Arch saying the water would heal him and was left alone with them. The message from the water lady telling him to go to Santa Monica.

"Wow. We've _got_ to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summon from your dad," said Grover.

"Wait Grover, Naruto was there!" Annabeth said, pulling the two boys away from the middle of the street.

"Yeah, and he helped us," Percy said. "Well, me."

"But… how did he find us?"

She then felt a hand in her left shoulder, and turned around slowly, dreading what she would find.

"Since when were you under the impression," asked a smirking Naruto, "that I wasn't with you?"

Annabeth opened her mouth to answer, but Naruto didn't let her speak. "No time. The train is leaving soon, we can talk on the way to Denver."

He then went past them, as if expecting to be followed.

With no other idea of what to do, the others did so.

IIIII

Annabeth looked around awkwardly as Naruto watched the view outside the train.

She opened her mouth to talk, but Naruto beat her to it.

"You know, I always knew I wasn't going to be well-received right away. I always had to prove myself before being respected, why would it change now? Add to that I'm related to Artemis, whose Hunters don't get along with the people at the camp, and I'd have some work to do.

I thought this quest would be the perfect chance to make some friends. I mean, what brings people together more than spending time together working for the same thing?"

He looked down, moving his hand through his hair.

"I wasn't expecting much from the start. I was expecting to be pushed aside and ignored, maybe treated as a load on the way. I'd been there already.

I never expected to just be discarded like that though."

"Annabeth was… persuasive…" Percy admitted. "I know I should have trusted you more, but…"

"I heard what she said. She said that I would be the traitor. Because that is how she interpreted the prophecy, because I am an outsider of the camp you just met and had been hiding who I really was, because Grover knows the both of you and can vouch for the other.

And I must say, it makes sense. But there are a few problems.

I have no reason to steal the Master Bolt or to keep it hidden. I had no opportunity to do so. And I have helped you even after you left me behind instead of letting or helping you guys fail."

The other three dropped their heads, ashamed.

Well, until his next words.

"Annabeth, on the other hand…"

"What?" she said loudly, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Well… Let's begin with establishing your character. You tried to use me and Percy at the Capture the Flag game to let Luke win. Even Percy noticed that."

"Hey!"

"A game you play every week as far as I could tell. And you used us as bait, leaving us to be beaten just so your crush could have the glory. Didn't even tell us, just tried manipulation outright."

Annabeth looked away, avoiding their eyes.

"Then, you had the opportunity to be the one to steal the bolt. You were there during the meeting of the gods when it disappeared. You are friends with a son of Hermes, the god of thievery. You can turn invisible.

You have a motive. Make your mother proud."

"Stealing the bolt would in no way make her proud!" Annabeth answered angrily.

"It wouldn't? Remember when I said I would suspect Ares due to him being the god of War? Well, so is Athena, but of a more planned kind of war. A war to put others against each other would be in her domain, would it not? Would a war between Zeus and Poseidon not make her stronger? She _is_ the daughter of Zeus and Metis, whose son was supposed to surpass him. And oh, look who is blamed for the disappearance, her rival!"

"My mother would never do that!"

"We have as much going for her as we have for Hades, maybe more. After all… You see, before Chiron mentioned they worked for Hades, all I read said the Furies were spirits of vengeance until Athena convinced them of being for justice… So, if we take them as the main clue of who did it, it points not just to Hades like you claim, but also to…"

Annabeth had nothing to say. She was pale, and her eyes had unshed tears.

"So you see, if we base ourselves just on logic, it all points to our traitor being… Grover."

Grover and Percy nodded sadly, before they noticed what he said and looked at him, eyes wide.

"What? Why would I do that?"

"A war between those two gods would most likely annihilate humanity, freeing Nature and allowing Pan to return.

But that's not what makes you the main suspect. What does is that the not only me and Annabeth are suspect, which means it would be expected, betrayal will come from a friend. Percy barely knows her to call her a friend and since he left me behind it means he doesn't see me as one either."

"Naruto—" Percy began, saddened, but the other boy wasn't finished.

"And that is if we believe that Percy told us the whole prophecy. As far as we know he may really be the thief and told us a false one to waste our time," he finaly finished, taking a soda from Aunty Em's from his scroll and opening it.

"So you see, accusing each other because of an ambiguous prophecy makes no sense. Keep your eyes open for anything suspicious, but don't jump on each other. This quest needs teamwork. It needs trust.

Or as close to it we can give each other from now on. I'd say I can trust you as far as I can throw you, but to tell the truth I can throw you guys pretty far if I want to."

"Naruto... I—"

"No Percy. You guys made it clear enough by abandoning me like that. You see me as trash, something to be thrown aside when I'm not useful. Well, guess what. I was taught one thing. I may be trash, but those who abandon their teammates are _lower_ than trash.

You guys really pissed me off, and I won't trust you as much as before for a while. Specially Annabeth. But I will be here when you need me. There are innocent people who will suffer if we fail, after all."

That said, he turned around and closed his eyes, leaving a silent trio thinking about his words.

IIIII

The next day they arrived in Denver, having had some of the food Naruto brought from Aunty Em's for breakfast – not the most healthy, for sure, but at least filling.

True to his word, Naruto followed them, but was silent as if he was a stranger. That made the others as depressed as when they left him, being used to his cheerfulness.

"Let's try to contact Chiron, I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit," Annabeth said to Percy.

"What for?" Naruto asked. "Isn't Santa Monica already in Los Angeles or something? It won't be exactly a detour. Besides it is Percy's message."

Annabeth turned as if to say something.  
Then thought better, and took a deep breath.

"You are right. There is no reason to call there. I guess I just… felt a bit homesick and wanted an excuse to call."

"How?" Percy asked. "There are no phones there… are there? Something about we can't use them?"

"They increase our scent, attracting the monsters. We will use Iris Message instead. The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods," she explained. "We just need a source of rainbow and a drachma."

They wandered until they found an empty do-it-yourself car wash, and went to the stall farthest from the street. Naruto stood as a guard while the rest grabbed the coins and the drachma. It seemed like it was the last one they kept from Aunty Em's.

While they talked to Luke, a car stopped in the next stall, sounds blazing. Naruto quickly sent a clone to take care of it.

It wasn't long before the others could hear each other again, but also some weird talk. A voice sounding like a female Naruto was talking to a bunch of older guys.

"So, what did you want, cutie?" one of the male voices said. They could _hear_ his lust in his voice.

"Oh, I just wanted someone to notice me," said the female Naruto. "Ever since my boyfriend killed me no one even talked to me, but since you guys noticed me that means I can haunt this place properly now! Thank you!"

"Haha, good joke, but there's no way you are a… a…"

"Dude, did she just disappear?" said a second male voice.

"L-l-let's get out of here!"

"I… I'm not sure I want to understand what just happened," said Luke.

"Anyway, sorry, but Chiron had to break up a fight. Things are tense here, they somehow figured out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. Now people are taking sides. It's looking like the Trojan Wars all over again."

"Don't worry, it won't come to a war. We are bringing that bolt back soon," Naruto said.

"I hope so. So, what's the status? Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

Percy told him everything but leaving Naruto behind and that Grover was the one with his boots, including his weird dreams.

The beeper sounded, they had only a minute.

"I agree that it seems weird, but it _has_ to have been Hades. He got the Helm of Darkness, and was there during the winter solstice. The only way to sneak into the throne room to take the Master Bolt would be by being invisible."

"Or very sneaky," Naruto added.

"No, I doubt even father himself could have pulled it off..." he then noticed Annabeth becoming pale. "Oh Annabeth, I didn't mean you. You are like a little sister to me, I would never accuse you."

"Thank you Luke…" she said, but seemed a bit down because of his answer.

"Hey Percy, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

"Don't worry, they helped a lot when we fought Medusa," Naruto replied.

"Really? They fit and everything?" Luke asked with a grin.

That was when the water shut off and the mist started to evaporate.

"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver. And Grover, it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if you just—"

The mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing.

"Why did he mention the pine tree?" Naruto asked, annoyed.

Grover shuffled his feet, clearly uncomfortable. "It's because the pine tree—"

"No, I know the gist of the story, and I think I got the rest, but why did he mention it right now?"

No one could answer. In fact, no one in the know could get it, why _would_ Luke mention it?

Naruto was not sure, but he felt like he forgot something.

IIIII

Naruto insisted they go to a restaurant instead of eating their supplies. The thing about asking others to make the food to go while you set the tent is that you can't make sure they aren't burning everything. It is alright to eat "extra-crispy" when you have no other choice, but if he can he is eating a proper meal.

Asking to eat some of his meat and energy drink was answered with just a _look_ ever since they regrouped, so they didn't anymore.

They sat and waited. Finally, after a while, a waitress came over, eyebrow raised.

"Well?" she asked.

Naruto answered by raising his own.

"We want the menu? We are new in town, so we don't know what is served here."

"You kids have money to pay?"

"Not sure, depends on your prices. If they are too high only the other three will be able to eat. Do you serve vegetarian?"

Before the waitress could answer, a big roar filled the place. Looking outside, a big motorcycle could be seen, and fittingly a big rider was dismounting.

When he walked in, they could feel a hot, dry wind, and everyone but Naruto stood up like on instinct, but the biker waved his hand and they sat down as if it never happened.

"It's on me," the biker said. Naruto was confused, but as he approached he went to the other side, leaving open the space beside Annabeth.

The biker looked at the waitress and said "Are you still here?", at which point she left.

"Don't forget, Grover's is vegetarian!" Naruto said to the retreating woman.

Naruto then looked at the man. Really looked.

He felt the bloodthirstiness, the desire to start a fight. He wanted to stand up and start beating the guy. He felt, he felt...

Like he was being mocked. Like when he first met Tsunade and she mocked his very dream of being Hokage.

Yet the man did not do anything. He just had this aura of enmity.

He stopped being angry like in a brawl and started thinking like in a battle. Analyzing his opponent. His time as a Hunter taught him not to go in battle weapons-first.

A constant. A fight, a battle.

"So, I take it you are Ares? The god of war and fighting?"

Ares smiled. Well, smirked.

"I like your reaction kid. Your eyes show no fear, and no anger past a point. They show experience in battle."

"Thank you."

"You are more of a pragmatic fighter though, even if you aren't anywhere else. This is more the bookworm's field, but I can still respect that," he said, pointing at Annabeth with his thumb, making it clear he was talking about her mother.

Naruto nodded.

"But the reason I'm here. I heard you kids were in town. I got a little proposition for you."

At that point the waitress arrived with some trays filled with food, including Grover's vegetarian burger. Ares paid with some drachmas, and pulled a knife when she seemed like she was going to complain.

"You can't do that. You can't just threaten people with a knife," Percy complained.

Ares just laughed.

"Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. He certainly does," he pointed at Naruto. "Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy asked.

"Probably something unrelated to his domains," Naruto answered.

"And something a god doesn't have time to do himself," Ares replied. "It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little ... date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Percy asked, confrontational.

Ares lowered his glasses, looking at Percy through intense flames on the sockets. "Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward? Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."

Naruto could tell Percy was getting angry. To tell the truth so was he, but he had more experience dealing with this. It would take more than that to make him lose his head in battle.

Then he blinked. He wasn't in a battle.

"I have no need to prove myself," he said, looking at Ares. "What do I gain from it?"

"Naruto!" Percy complained. "We are not interested," he told Ares. "We already got a quest."

"I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful… Well… if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Percy asked.

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately."

Naruto filed it for future reference.

"In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."

"Thanks," Percy grumbled.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own."

"No, we are not."

"Naruto! Which side are you on?"

"The one that ends this quest earlier. Face it Percy, even if you dislike Ares for obvious reasons—"

"Watch it!"

"You make people dislike you for fun," Naruto deadpanned. "Using your powers."

"Ah, yes. That I do. And you Jackson. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

"My mom?" Percy asked, surprised.

"That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"Anything special about the shield besides being yours?" Naruto asked.

"It is made of Celestial Bronze. And it is my favorite."

"What interrupted the date? Any chance it is still there?"

"Nothing you need to worry about. It was a personal thing."

"Alright then," Naruto nodded and stood up. "I'm going right now. You guys finish your food. The sooner we get the shield, the better."

"You're going alone?" Annabeth asked, worry in her voice.

"Yup."

Naruto then made a clone to stay with them and left.

Percy blinked, and suddenly there were only the four of them there. Well, if you count the clone.

"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."

"It's probably some kind of trick," Percy said. "We should go help Naruto."

"Nah, don't worry. Boss got it covered," the clone said. "Besides, he is fast when he wants to be. By the time you get there he would probably be back already."

"But this water park… Ares acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"

Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other.

"Probably something humiliating, or something else that can't just be smashed out of the way," the clone just shrugged. "Don't worry, Boss may be more of a hands-on guy, but he can think when needed."

IIIII

Naruto found the water park quickly. He just jumped over the main gate.

It was liberating, really, being on a mission alone. He could see it could start feeling lonely quickly though.

Once inside, he made some clones, and they separated to look for the tunnel of love. It didn't take long to find it, or at least a tunnel related to love.

An empty pool, a big one, with a tunnel on the opposite side to the entrance and a dozen cupid bronze statues around. A sign read "Thrill Ride o' Love: This is not your parents' tunnel of love".

On the bottom, a pink and white boat. And on the boat, a circle of bronze. Ares' shield.

"This is too easy," Naruto said, and sent a clone to get the shield.

"There's a scarf here too!" the clone said. "And the shield is surrounded by wire!"

"I knew it…" Naruto complained. "Bring the scarf, it must be Aphrodite's. Let's make a plan to take the shield."

In the end, Naruto's plan was to just bruteforce it.

He made a clone to free the shield, and kept a clone beside him. As soon as the strings were broken, the clone kawarimi'ed with the shield, leaving the shield with Naruto and two clones down the tunnel.

Sounds of gears filled the tunnel, and the cupids threw arrows across the pool, making a golden net.

The cupid heads popped open, turning into video cameras, and a message saying transmission would begin in a minute and counting began.

Small metallic spiders started trying to tie the clones down, so they dispelled. Pity, he already had an idea on how to turn this around and make a joke that would be famous on all Olympus…

IIIII

Naruto arrived back with the shield, and three backpacks with clothes and other souvenirs.

He threw a backpack to each of them.

"Look, before you say something, they were obviously being left to rot, and you guys _really_ need a change of clothes."

The three nodded, and changed them in the restroom.

Ares was waiting for them outside. Naruto quickly threw him the shield.

Ares spun it in the air like a pizza and it became a bulletproof vest. Naruto had no idea what that was though, just that it seemed like a jonin vest.

"See that truck over there?" He pointed. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

The truck had a sign on the back that said "Kindness International: Humane Zoo Transport. Warning: Live Animals".

"You're kidding," Percy said.

"We have no other choice but walk there right now," Naruto reminded him.

Ares snapped his fingers and the back door of the truck unlatched.

He then threw a blue bag to Percy. Inside there was some money, drachmas, clothes and a bag of oreos.

"A little extra for doing the job so quickly."

"Thank you," Naruto said, as levelly as possible.

"Wait!" Percy said, before Ares could leave. "You promised me information about my mother!"

"You sure you can handle the news?" he asked as he started the motorcycle. "She's not dead."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, looking lost.

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"Depending on who it was could have a number of reasons," Naruto said. "It could be the culprit for the theft and will use it to make you stop the quest. It could be Zeus to make sure you will bring the bolt back. It could even be your father to save her.

Thank you Ares. We will take our leave now."

"You're no fun, kiddo," the god said, before going away on his motorcycle.

"I really don't like that guy," Naruto said to himself as he went across to the back of his truck.

"Didn't seem like that. Annabeth and Grover were afraid of him, and he was making me angry, but you seemed like you were talking about the weather," Percy answered.

"It's because I learned the hard way how to hold back my anger and focus my thoughts. If you let hatred, sadness and loneliness take you over, _they_ win."

"Who are they?" asked Annabeth.

Naruto said nothing, opening the back door.

IIIII

The stench inside the truck was terrible.

The condition of the animals was worse. The herbivores were clearly messed with, with gums on the zebra's mane and a balloon tied to the antelope, and the lion did not look healthy. The fact their foor was inversed did not help matters.

Naruto ignored the others as he unlocked the cages, including the lion's. Percy was quick to take the meat from the other two, but seemed scared of the lion, so Naruto put the sack on his hands while a clone took the meat already there.

The boy doing his best not to fall as he carried the food to the others while Grove filled their jugs with water put a smile on his face, but it was a small light in the darkness of the situation.

According to the animals, those transporters were actually criminals. Animal smugglers. He wondered if Ares knew, and if he was being used to take them to justice or being tempted to look the other way for the mission—

"Holly shit I can understand the animals!"

"What?" said Percy and Annabeth, surprised.

"It's no big deal," Grover said.

"Maybe to you, but I didn't use to be able to!"

"Your… godmom?" Grover asked, and Naruto nodded. "Your godmom is also the goddess of the animals. It was going to happen sooner or later."

"So…" Percy asked, "does this means I'm not going crazy and _am_ hearing the zebra?"

IIIII

Annabeth opened the oreos and shared with everyone. Even Naruto sat down with them and started eating.

"About the Iris Message…" Naruto started, "remember how Luke changed the conversation about the story of Thalia?"

"How much do you know about it?" asked Percy.

"About the same as you, I guess. The pine tree is Thalia, daughter of Zeus, sacrificed herself to let a satyr, that from that what Luke said I guess is Grover, and two demigods, that I bet are Annabeth and Luke, reach the camp in safety. She was almost killed by monsters but her father turned her into a sacred tree to save her life, and her sacrifice is powering a barrier that protects the camp.

But that's not what I was talking about. Remember what we were talking about _before_ he said that?"

"He said that you needed to be invisible to steal the Master Bolt," Annabeth answered. "And then said that he didn't think it was me, that it had to be Hades, but… Gods can't steal the other's symbol of power directly so…"

"So in other words he said whoever did that was using one of the two invisible hats that were there. And if it wasn't Annabeth, and it couldn't be Hades…"

"You think someone would be stupid enough to steal the _Helm of Darkness_?" Annabeth asked, wide-eyed.

"It makes sense. We agreed that the Furies were looking for something, and if Hades stole the bolt it wouldn't be looking for it. He would have no reason to sent for Percy for it. But, if he was looking for something else…"

"The prophecy said Percy would retrieve what was stolen," Annabeth remembered. "It said nothing about what it was, or even how many items were.  
But then…"

"We aren't going to Los Angeles to take the bolt back from Hades," Percy understood. "We are going there to recover the Helm for him."

"We cannot be sure," said Naruto, "but it seems so."

"Oh great. We are already on a time limit, and now our main suspect may be another victim," Percy moaned.

"To be fair, I have been saying he isn't as high on the list from the beginning."

"That's not the point, Naruto," Annabeth sighed. "We have only a week now, and you just destroyed what we have been working with all this time. Where will we find the bolt _and the helm_ now?"

"Ok, two things. It was just a thought, we don't know yet if the helm is really gone. And, about where the bolt is, you guys are forgetting _that_ is what we are on a quest to find out."

"That doesn't help much," said Percy. "Ares said that the best trackers in Olympus failed to find it!"

"Look, we always knew it may not have been Hades. Just because he is the Lord of the Dead does not make him evil.  
We came to the west not because he was here, but because it was our clue. You just added the clue to what you already expected and got Hades. Now we are just adding the clues again and getting closer to the true answer.  
But it is not the answer yet. We keep going. We keep paying attention. We find the truth the hard way."

The other three nodded, determination in his eyes.

IIIII

" _I think this is yours," Naruto said, giving the hat back._

 _The Caravaneer happily accepted it, and from it pulled_ something _. Something that glittered like gold under the sunlight, but seemed_ much _harder… and rarer._

" _What's this?" he asked, fascinated._

" _That, my friend, is what I am in a quest to find out."_

IIIII

 **That reader mentioned last chapter had tried reminding me that Athena was also a goddess of war and could also gain from there being a war, and there is the fact she is rival to Poseidon.  
I was going to make less solid points from Naruto about suspecting Annabeth, but that reminder made me write what you see this chapter.  
I agree, it would be awesome if she turned out to be the 'villain' for the book. But… she is also too smart for there to be any hope of resolution in time, being the goddess of strategic war versus Ares' more aggressive approach. Unless she could profit from Zeus getting the bolt back, it would stay gone.  
It would be a great idea for a fic about the war between Skies and Seas the first book is trying to avoid, but I do not trust myself to write such a fic properly. It is up for grabs though.**

 **Next chapter: Lotus Hotel and Cassino. And hopefully the meeting between Naruto and the Hunters of Artemis.**


	6. Your Best is Not Enough

**A guest reader asked for my friend code and Hunter name, my FC is 1805-2995-2809. My main hunter's name is Yorae (due to this fic, I created a new Hunter just for reviewing previous scenes and trying my hand at long-distance weapons, and named her, guess what, Artemis). I'm still in HR2 due to focusing on the offline missions though…**

 **Decided to leave the confrontation with the Hunters for next chapter, since there is a flashback of a battle in this one.**

 **More Author Notes at the end explaining the techniques Naruto uses in the battle.**

IIIII

"It is my fault she was turned into a tree," Grover said sadly after a while.

That got the attention of the two other guys.

"You can't blame yourself like this Grover," Annabeth said. "It was my fault. If I hadn't been there Luke and Thalia would have been able to go to camp with no problem."

"You were seven, Annabeth."

"And you only failed because she decided to protect me."

"And you guys lost us," Naruto said.

Grover took a deep breath to calm down.

"I was sent to find Thalia and bring her to camp. _Only_ Thalia. Chiron gave me strict orders to not do _anything_ that would slow down the rescue, since we knew Hades was after her."

"I was seven when I met them. Athena guided me. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were amazing monster fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."

"I thought ... I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker—"

"Stop it! No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either," Annabeth said.

"She sacrificed herself to save us. Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."

"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind? That's not fair," Percy countered.

"Percy's right," Annabeth agreed. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says."

"It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."

"Grover," Naruto decided to join the talk, "the way I see it, the Council's opinion does not matter. There are only two that matter. Now, you blame yourself for leaving Thalia behind. I know you would rather had left no one behind, but would you feel any better leaving _two_ people behind instead just because of orders?"

"No, of course not!" Grover answered, offended. "But—"

"And the other opinion that matters is," Naruto cut him off, "do you think _Thalia_ would ever forgive you for leaving two people behind so she could go on?"

"No… I'm pretty sure she would punch my head off and never talk to me again."

"Then there is nothing to feel guilty about. You can do your best to do better next time, but you. Did. Your best. At the time. And no one can ask you for more. All you can do is train and get better so next time you do a better job."

"…Thank you Naruto. I'm not sure how to feel, but that helps a bit," Grover said.

"Thought it would. Someone smarter than me told me about the same thing when I thought I broke my first promise."

He turned around to try to rest, but could feel the stares on his back.

"I live in a military village," he began. "There is not much different from in the camp, we have an academy to learn things if we want to be soldiers, just like in the camp you are taught to be 'heroes'. Different name, same thing. Learn to fight and to survive. We were at a time of peace, but that didn't mean it would last forever.

In the academy… I sucked. I was the last in class, the 'deadlast'. No one but one of the teachers ever had hope in me. But I did pass, and as usual to balance the teams I was put with the best in class, the Rookie of the Year, and someone in the middle, with an experienced team leader to teach us the rules.

We started rough, but after our first mission we became friends. My first friends. For me, they became the family I never had. And I… got better thanks to them.

I became a rival to the best in class, Sasuke. As he learned new things I tried my best to be just as good as him. He saved me when I froze in front of my first enemy, I swore to never freeze like that again and next time I was right beside him freeing our teacher from an even stronger enemy. Our teacher taught us a new technique, I tried it my best and learned it at the same time as him. And during our exam to get a higher rank, I was able to defeat the Rookie of the Year of the previous class!

But… Sasuke didn't see it as me getting better. He saw it as him not getting better fast enough.  
His brother had killed the rest of his family, and Sasuke wanted to get revenge. But his brother was a prodigy, and Sasuke ran out of patience.

There was a traitor called Orochimaru, known as one of the stronger people in my land. He promised Sasuke training and an easy way to get power. It was something called the Cursed Seal. So one day Sasuke… left with them.  
But not before my third teammate, Sakura-chan, met him while leaving. He knocked her out, and she raised an alarm about it as soon as she woke up.

Orochimaru had attacked the village earlier and we had few people available, so I was on a team sent to bring him back or, if he refused… well, kill him.

But Sakura-chan asked me to bring him back. So we could be a team again. And I promised her I would do so no matter what. I called it a 'promise of a lifetime'.  
I failed."

Naruto could hear their breath, looking at his back, paying attention to his words.

"We faced against Orochimaru's goons. Sasuke was locked inside a barrel that kept being passed around, so we separated, each one of us facing another… And then Sasuke _exploded_ the barrel and… kept going. In the end, it was just me and him.

He… he wasn't called the Rookie of the Year for nothing. I knew that I had no chance if I wanted to capture him, that my only choice would be to kill him. He refused to listen. I couldn't keep my promise.  
And to make it worse, he told me that he had a way to get stronger by killing who he considered his best friend. Me.

Deep inside, I knew I had no chance to bring him back alive. That the only way to fulfill my mission was to kill him."

IIIII

 _Sasuke jumped back above the water, evading the hunting knife._

 _An orange energy covered Naruto, the wound he just gave him in the right side of the chest healed right in front of his body… and the energy disappeared._

" _What the…"_

" _Bastard…" Naruto made a bunch of clones to attack, while he himself took some distance and began wearing his armor._

" _Huh, weak," Sasuke snorted as he avoided the clones' slow attacks. "Like this, you are barely an annoyance, much less a challenge."_

" _They weren't supposed to be a challenge. They were supposed to be a distraction."_

 _An armor of ice-blue scales and metal chains, covering his whole body. His face was covered. Even his eyes were hidden by the helmet._

" _Uh, that's new," Sasuke noted._

" _It is my brand new Zantrios set. I didn't want to use it the first time like this, but with that attack you pushed my hand."_

"…Now _I pushed your hand? I was hitting and insulting you for half an hour and only after I give you an attack that was supposed to be letal and you act as_ this _was when the fighting starts?"_

" _Well, now I know I can't afford to hold back. I could have died."_

"… _You_ _ **should**_ _have died! I pierced your right lung right through! The least you should have suffered was not be able to use handsigns!"_

" _It doesn't matter. Now I will bring you home. The hard way."_

" _Hmph. You already said it before. What makes it so different this time?"_

" _That time, I told you to use your Sharingan to watch out my Way of the Ninja. Now… I will show you my Way of the Hunter."_

 _Sasuke looked at him silently._

" _Way of the Hunter, uh… After your Way of the Ninja failed, you change your way?"_

" _The Way of the Ninja is one of adaption. The Way of the Hunter is a powerful tool a ninja can use just as well."_

" _Like what, so you really think your glaive is going to make so much of a difference? Your main use of it is for movement, but as we are fighting on the water it is useless. It has a good reach, but it makes no difference if you are too slow to use this advantage. And you_ are _too slow for my eyes."_

" _Yes, I guess you are right. The glaive is not the best weapon for fighting you here."_

 _Sasuke snorted, "I just told you that. Beside your armor—"_

" _Guess I'll have to use a faster weapon then."_

 _Naruto advanced at a speed Sasuke never saw in him before, and the dark-haired boy had to jumo on reflex to avoid being cut. His only warning was a flash of light and a fine mist._

 _Naruto was holding long daggers, the curved body of some yellow metal filled with spikes in the inner edge holding the sharp outer edge that seemed to be made of the same material of his armor. Mist appeared around the ice-blue sides as if the air itself was being frozen by their mere presence._

" _Cleaving Jaws. Made from the same beast my armor was.  
Prepare yourself Sasuke. This time, I'll fight you with my everything."_

 _Before Sasuke could even figure out what was happening, he was being hit with the flat of the left blade, then being hit with the fist holding the right in the stomach and thrown upwards. A kick lifted him even more, and an axe strike with both pummels threw him under the water at high speeds._

 _Sasuke tried charging from the water, but had to jump back to avoid Naruto's strikes, the two blades moving at high speed like the claws of a demon. He was so worried for the blades, he did not expect to be thrown into the stone wall by a heavy kick._

" _I will bring you home. Even if I have to break all the bones in your arms and legs to do that."_

 _Naruto advanced with the pummel of the right sword, and Sasuke was barely able to avoid having his left elbow broken._

" _Shut up!"_

" _You are right. The time for talk is over. This time we are no more arguing comrades. This time it is hunter versus prey. Words have no meaning now."_

 _Sasuke ducked and let himself fall into the water, just in time to avoid a strike from both swords._

 _Or almost. He could feel it, the cold of the blade, a cut in his forehead._

' _He is for real now. He is really going to cut me if I slow down. He is seeing me as prey._

 _I am no prey!'_

" _I see," he said, exiting the water at a safe distance. "In that case, I am going to have to show you which of us is the prey."_

" _I thought we agreed to shut up," Naruto answered._

" _I'll acknowledge you," Sasuke said, ignoring the jab and wearing his headband. "You are strong. You are a worthy rival. You are a worthy best friend."_

 _Sasuke made some handsigns, and a fireball escaped from his mouth in Naruto's direction. The armored boy jumped over it, advancing at full speed._

 _Sasuke could see him moving this time though. He could see his every move as if he was in slow motion._

 _More than that, by the subtle movements he did, he could say he could predict his next moves. Using them, he punched Naruto's face between strikes, throwing the armored boy away into the water._

 _Naruto swam up, standing on the water again, some of the liquid leaking between plates._

" _Looks like you learned to use your eyes better," Naruto said._

 _Sasuke just smirked._

" _Guess that means I have to use my swords better too.  
Demon Mode!" _

_Naruto's speed increased. At first Sasuke could still see them just fine, just a bit faster than before. Then they got faster. And faster. Seeming to be normal speed. Seeming to be just as fast as before the Sharingan released the third tomoe. Needing all of Sasuke's instincts to avoid being cut into a thousand pieces._

 _Then Naruto kicked, and Sasuke flew to the wall._

" _I see. So this is how fast I can be with both chakra and Demon Mode," Naruto commented as if it was just a curiosity. "Oi! Are you ready to give up? This tires me a bit, but it's not like I'd need to keep it for long if this is your best!"_

 _Sasuke's answer was a salvo of small fireballs that Naruto quickly maneuvered through, getting closer and closer… just as the black boy wanted, for as he got close enough Sasuke quickly made the handseals and blew an enormous fireball._

 _Naruto did not stop, but began a bizarre dance with his swords, blowing away the approaching flames._

' _I need to keep him away,' Sasuke thought as he jumped backwards. 'He said this mode of fighting tires him out, that means he can't stay like this for long.'_

 _Naruto quickly jumped in his direction though, swords crossed in front of him in an X. Sasuke jumped away just in time, as the swords cut the water, making waves._

 _Sasuke then noticed something in the air… were those Naruto's blades?_

" _Rasengan!" was all he heard, before being rammed by the sphere of drilling energy and thrown back in the wall._

" _Give me a break," he said as he rose from the hole, the Cursed Seal's energy protecting and empowering him. "Who knows what would happen if I get taken over by this energy?"_

" _Does that mean you give up?" Naruto asked, as a pair of clones brought his blades back._

" _Guess it can't be helped… can it?"_

 _The cursed marks covered Sasuke's body completely, darkening his skin and greying and growing his hair. The while of his eyes turned black. And his nails turned into claws._

" _It is certainly true that you are special… however… I am more special than you. How do you like_ _ **my**_ _Demon Mode?"_

" _Sasuke, you are an idiot. This is not a competition. I never wanted to be special."_

 _Naruto advanced at full speed, swords at his side. But Sasuke answered in his own way._

 _A hand-shaped wing grew from his back, enveloping him like a giant cocoon. The swords bounced off as if they hit stone._

 _Then they opened, throwing Naruto backwards._

" _You are a worthy sacrifice to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan."_

" _Mangekyo Sharingan?" Naruto asked, confused._

" _Yes. It is the ultimate power of the Sharingan. It is unlocked by killing the owner's best friend.  
Be happy, Naruto. You will be the one to unlock mine._

 _Oh, I forgot. We said there would be no more talking, right? Well, how about we bring it to a close then? This battle. All of our battles up to now."_

 _That said, Sasuke started summoning a Chidori, the cursed energy covering his body giving it a black color._

 _As an answer, Naruto had just two words:_

" _ **Arch**_ _demon Mode."_

 _While Demon Mode sacrifices stamina for more speed and ferocity, Archdemon Mode throws aside all barriers and defensive capacities. It turns the user even stronger than Demon Mode, and allows even better swordplay, without the sacrifice of stamina, but with the caveat that is_ _ **requires**_ _the user to be aggressive to stay on it longer._

 _Now talking time was truly over._

 _Naruto advanced at top speed, reaching Sasuke before he could finish charging the technique. The transformed boy answered by ignoring him and covering himself with a wing._

 _Only for the energy to dissipate from the pain of having the wing cut hit by a hurricane of cuts. The same wing that earlier took the strikes from Naruto in Demon Mode with not even a scratch was being cut deeply by the strength of Archdemon mode._

 _Sasuke tried slapping Naruto with the wing again, but already knowing what it does he jumped backwards._

" _That… was a surprise. So, you weren't going all out yet_ again _?"_

 _Naruto's only answer was advancing to attack again. Another wing grew from Sasuke's back, both cocooning him this time. Under their protection, the transformed boy began charging his black chidori once again._

 _But he felt something hit the top part of the wings… and it wasn't a sword. He abandoned the charging and jumped forward on instinct, but wasn't fast enough._

 _Naruto was aiming for the base, but hitting just a bit above on the wings where was still not on its top hardness made no difference on cutting them off._

 _Not believing what he felt, Sasuke tried moving the wings again. The pain was excruciating, Sasuke could imagine it would be the same as having an arm cut off and the open cut exposed to the winds._

 _The pain was so big, it forced his transformation off, leaving two gashes on his back where the wings once grew._

 _But he had lost his big advantage. Naruto still had his. Before he could even stand up, a gauntlet hand was gripping his face and swinging him to the rock that formed Madara's statue on his back._

 _Hard._

 _He fell forward to vomit, but two thunks echoed on his sides, and he was unable to._

 _Sasuke found himself back to normal, two blades crossed over his neck nailing him to the rock behind him, the spiky edges digging in his collarbone. If he moved his head much, the sharp ones would cut into his face._

 _Naruto's left hand quickly held his head safely and looking forward, though._

" _Can you see this Sasuke?" Naruto said as he pulled his right fist back. "This is no special eyes. This is no cursed seal. This is no special chakra. I am matching you blow for blow with my own skill._

 _And guess what, despite all your hatred that you claim powers you, despite you fighting to kill and me just to capture…_ I _am the one winning."_

 _Sasuke just looked at him hatefully._

" _We will talk more in Konoha. Go to sleep."_

 _That said, Naruto punched him in the stomach, aiming for a vasovagal syncope, the harder but safer knock-out technique taught in the academy._

 _Sasuke instantly slackened, held in place only by the swords and the hand on his head._

 _With a sigh of relief, Naruto pulled the swords from his neck and put his teammate over his shoulder, starting a suffering walk back home…_

 _Until he heard a knife being unsheathed and feld a stab to the back of his knee._

" _Ugaaah!" he screamed, falling on his knee. Sasuke quickly pulled himself and jumped over his body, the movement making Naruto fall face-down on the ground._

" _Hah, once a deadlast, always a deadlast. You hit the wrong place, you idiot. I have to say, you pushed me_ much _harder than I expected… But in the end, I won."_

" _Bastard…" Was all Naruto could say before screaming as Sasuke pulled the hinting knife back out from his leg._

" _I am partial to a carotid punch myself," Sasuke said, and used the butt of the knife to hit the side of Naruto's neck._

 _His world went black._

" _To tell the_ real _truth," Sasuke said, trembling, "you almost won. But in the end, I was better. Your best os not enough."_

 _He grabbed the two blades that Naruto was holding._

" _Normal blades… the materials are weird, seems like it gave them some cold and water properties, but unlike your glaives there is no mechanism… you really got so far on skill alone."_

 _He began moving the blades fast as if attacking invisible enemies. Then faster. After a bit he could feel that although not faster he would hit an enemy harder._

" _Skill I was able to copy. Skill I was able to watch and learn all of its secrets thanks to my Sharingan. Dual blade skills with all its speed, Demon Mode, Archdemon Mode as you so called them. I know them. I will train in them until I am better than you as a base. And then, when I add my Sharingan… I will be invincible. Itachi will have no chance."_

 _He dropped the blades and turned on the Sound Village's direction._

" _You are lucky. I am letting you live. With the skills you showed me today, that man will face justice by my hands."_

IIIII

"In the end, I could have killed him, but I refused. I was almost killed instead.

I woke up in the hospital, and then I met Temie. The goddess Artemis. That was when I was told those words and more. That I hadn't lost yet. That he was still alive, so I could still bring him back. That even if I failed the first time, I was still alive and so was he, I could try again! I made a promise of a lifetime. I had a lifetime to fulfill it.

…Then I was scolded when Temie found out he wanted to kill me and that I could have died for letting him live.

But he didn't. He knew that he could get more power by killing me, but he didn't. So, I have hope of bringing him back. I still have hope of finishing my promise."

"…Naruto, that is nice and all…" Grover said sadly, "But I can't see where it applies to me."

Naruto turned around, looking at Grover, his eyes shining in the darkness as if fueled by flames.

"I was the weakest. Yet I fought the strongest. I defeated one of them, and only lost to the second because I had something more important to me than victory.

I lost when it mattered the most, but I got a second chance. You were not able to save Thalia, but you were able to help Percy."

"Actually it was you and Percy that helped me."

"And you are acting as if Thalia was dead. She is just turned into a tree. What can be transformed one way can also be the other, can't it?

Don't act as if your failures would be like that forever. If your dream is to find Pan, search for him. If you want to apologize to Thalia, search for a way to bring her back. Maybe it would be the same search, Pan being able to bring her back since he was the god of Nature.

But that's not the point. Never give up. Never look back in sadness. The past is there to push you forward. Learn from your mistakes. Try to fix them if you can. Chase after your dreams. But do _not_ live there. That way there are only ruins and those too lost in them to build a new future."

Silence filled the truck as the three thought about Naruto's words.

It wasn't long after they heard Grover snore, a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Naruto," Annabeth said. "It seems your speech really helped Grover."

Naruto just shrugged, turned away and went silent.

After a few miles, Percy noticed Annabeth fidgeting with her bead collar, and she tells him about it, and about her relationship with her father.

Which in turn brought Percy's thoughts to the situation they were trying to avoid.

"So if the gods fight, will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"

"I don't know what my mom will do," Annabeth answered resting her head in Ares' backpack and preparing herself to sleep. "I just know I'll fight next to you."

"Why?"

"I… I would say it was because I consider you a friend. But on the other hand, Naruto said it himself. I used you two at Capture the Flag. I convinced you and Grover to leave him behind.  
I… I'm a bit lonely, to tell the truth. I've been in the camp for longr than some of the counselors. Including my cabin's. People look up to my brains, or to my experience, or look down on how I act. Naruto showed me I can't blame the last ones.  
But you guys… you treat me as another person. Maybe it is because you are new, and Grover feels guilty, but it is… different. And Naruto… he doesn't look down because of how I act, but when you look at him when he is disappointed you can see he expects you to be better. And you, he helped you and Grover for no reason. He seemed like someone important. Someone who would be on a quest of his own instead of stuck with us. He said himself in camp, I got knowledge but he knows how to use his abilities best. And you and Grover acted as if he was the greatest person ever. I… I was envious of him. And then I remembered the prophecy.  
I just… I think I pushed myself to find reasons for it to fit him.

I was feeling guilty as soon as we left, but I justified it to myself that it is for making friends with us so easily that he was so suspect. When he came back I was a mix of relief that it seemed I was wrong about him and sadness that I destroyed any chance of calling him a friend.

And now he told us his life story, how he had no one for most of his life. He glossed over it, but I know I am smart. I am able to read between the lines. The reason he is so good is because he pushed himself to be good. The reason he was so friendly was because he once had no one friendly to him.

And I went and ruined it. Because of envy.

If I can't see when someone wants to be my friend with pure intentions and make myself see evil in them, how can I call myself anyone's friend?"

Percy couldn't answer.

"I think that is something you'd have to ask him when he wakes up."

"…Guys, just because I am silent and looking the other way does _not_ mean I'm sleeping. Seriously, this is the second time you guys do this!"

The other two blushed, Annabeth's face getting completely red.

Naruto sighed.

"Look, let's make this clear. I am not as much angry as I am hurt by your actions. It will take some time to heal, maybe a prank or two.

That does not mean I hate you, or would turn away your hand in friendship when I feel better. It is not a never, just a 'not now'. You get me?

I don't know how you feel when you are smarter than everyone else, that's Shikamaru. But I do know how it is not to be seen as you. Well, let me tell you one thing: I see _you_ , Annabeth Chase. I like you for your own actions, and I am miffed with you for your actions. Not for your smarts. Not for your mother. For _you_."

Annabeth turned around with a smile. That wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no either. And that was enough for now.

Soon they could hear her soft snore too.

"Naruto…"

"Save it Percy. I'd just have to repeat what I told Annabeth."

"But after you helped me, I went with Annabeth and Grover and left you behind…"

"You didn't know me. You know Grover. Grover knows Annabeth, so he trusts her, and you trust him. You just didn't trust me enough yet.  
You didn't leave me. You followed them.  
That doesn't mean I'm not a bit angry though."

"Guess that's the best I can ask for…" Percy said, and turned around and slept.

Only then Naruto let himself drift.

IIIII

Darkness. Darkness and more darkness. The only thing visible was the moon in the sky, blood red.

Naruto wanted to cough. The air was filled with a thin mist that felt like he was breathing sand. But the mist couldn't be seen, for it was as black as the rest.

He could hear something ripping though. And under the moonlight, something started glittering.

Something ancient. Something golden.

His eye opened. The truck had stopped. Looking around, he could see Grover shaking Annabeth awake, so he did the same to Percy.

"I think they're coming to check the animals. Better hide," Annabeth said, wearing her cap.

Percy and Grover followed her lead. Naruto just transformed in a closed sack like the ones he had been sleeping on.

The doors opened soon after, letting sunlight enter.

"Man! I wish I hauled appliances," The trucker said, waving a hand in front of his nose. He poured water for the animals, and just to be cruel threw some in the lion's face, who roared back.

He threw a hamburger to the antelope and began taunting the zebra about how they would leave it nearby at a magic show where she would be sawed in half.

That was when he heard the sound of a metal cage opening.

He turned around, but he _knew_ , instinctively, what was going on.

His face was almost as pale as the one of the albino lion he met face-to-face, this time without bars between them.

"AAAH!"

"GRAUR!"

As the man ran away, the lion running after him until the exit of the truck, Naruto opened the other two cages.

The man did not look back.

Grover gave the three animals a blessing, and they jumped from the truck, but not before Naruto put a piece of raw meat in the lion's mouth.

"Will the animals be okay? I mean, the desert and all…" Percy asked.

"Don't worry, I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them." Grover answered.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely. They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."

"Wait, did you say a desert?" Naruto asked, remembering something.

"Yes, the Mojave Desert," replied Annabeth.

"Would you say a desert is a 'land devoid of life'?"

"Well, it seems that way, but it actually has—the prophecy?"

"'The three shall head west, to the land devoid of life'. Maybe it wasn't the land of the dead. Maybe it was the desert!"

"No. Nonononono," Annabeth interrupted. "For starters, there are plenty of life in the desert if you know where to look.  
Then there is the fact the desert is big, and we have no idea what we are looking for there. If we had any idea it'd be another story."

"Alright. Makes sense," Naruto agreed. "Besides, we have about a week, if we don't find anything in this trip we have time to come back."

They exited the truck and searched the town.

"Look," Naruto said, "I know it is not exactly legal, but we are _really_ low on funds. In fact, I'm the only one here who _has_ any funds. I swear I won't cheat besides transforming to be able to enter!"

"Naruto," Annabeth answered. "there is a reason few people win there. Save for some of the card games, for which you need to have a minimum value you don't have, they all go on luck instead of skill. And I'm not going to be the one to risk our chance to save the world on luck."

"But… but… this town seems to be _made_ of casinos!"

"Welcome to Vegas," Percy said. "This is basically what the town is."

"Tsunade would be so happy if she ever came here…"

But then he tensed.

"What's wrong?" Grover asked. "I don't smell any monsters…"

"Nothing. It's nothing."

The others didn't believe him, specially with the face he was making.

"So! Where _are_ we going then?" he asked as they kept walking, voice happy despite the serious face. Which could only mean they were being followed.

Annabeth tried her best to ignore the revelation.

"I'm not sure… I mean, what can we do? We need to find a way to get to L.A., but we ruined the chance Ares gave us and have no money to do it the mortal way."

"I still say it was a sadistic test of character or something like that."

"A 'sadistic test'… what kind of test of character can we expect from the god of war?" Percy complained.

"Well… I read that after he was captured in a jar he started demanding prisoners be treated better. And the animals were kind of being imprisoned and treated badly."

"…ok, how much _did_ you read?" Annabeth asked, her eye twitching.

"Well, at first it was only to kill time while waiting for Percy to wake up, but reading _can_ be fun if you're not having problems with kanji…"

"I don't know about kanji, but I started reading much more after finding out my dyslexia was only for languages outside ancient greek," Annabeth agreed.

They walked in silence for a while. It seemed like Percy was deep in thought about something.

"Hey Naruto," Percy asked, pensive, "you ever feel like you following the prophecies just locks you into the path, as if you were being controlled?"

Naruto looked at him wide-eyed. "Why are you saying that?"

"I… we left you behind because of the prophecy, and right now you were talking about it as if it was the one guiding us. It just made me think…"

"I don't follow the prophecy. It is just the only clue we have, and even that clue only said 'west' and 'land devoid of life'. Trust me, if we had any other clue I wouldn't care for what it says.

As far as I know the only thing a prophecy does is tell the future. It doesn't change it.Just like predicting the weather. But if you find yourself following one or trying to avoid it instead of just shrugging and goin 'ok' and prepare to deal with the results, it becomes true not because it was made, but because _you_ made it true."

"Wait, so you think we should just shrug and accept the 'betrayal from a friend'?"

"I'm not saying that. The thing about predicting the weather is that sometimes it is wrong. I believe the same from prophecies.  
Just act the same as you would if you never heard of it. Maybe you will be betrayed hard and have to cover the damages. Maybe it will be minor. Maybe the betrayer will change their mind, it didn't happen yet, maybe you acting suspicious is what caused the betrayal. Maybe they are wrong, maybe not. Hope for the best, plan for the worst."

"Naruto, there are no records of the Oracle ever being wrong," Annabeth said in a sad tone.

Her answer was Naruto looking at her with a confused expression.

"Why would you record a prophecy if it was wrong? That would make people think they weren't as good as they made them to be."

"Hey kids," an older man said, making Naruto blink and turn around.

They must have been talking so much they got lost, because he didn't remember the way to get there. The sign said "Lotus Hotel and Casino".

"You look tired, you want to come in and sit down?" said the doorman.

The guy looked like just a normal, if nice, person. Naruto didn't get to meet many like it in his life, and he learned to treasure those few he met.

It was for people like these that they had to finish their mission, he thought as he followed the others inside the hotel.

The place was a kid and teenager's paradise. It was filled with games, some of them that seemed impossible for him but not to the others from their expression.

But it seemed… lonely. Everyone in their own game, some in duos for some games but no one talking to each other. It seemed to Naruto as if it was just distractions, as if they were all just wasting their time forever.

"Naruto, your eye is shining," Grover said, a bit concerned.

"It is?" Naruto asked, worried himself. "What color?"

"Silver."

"Oh… that's ok then." Silver was the color he assossiated with Temie, or his divine powers. Even his weapons when he activated the bracelets became silver instead of the Celestial Bronze's usual colors.

He did wonder what they would be activating _for_ , but he had no idea how his powers worked anyway.

"Hey!" said someone in casual clothes that kinda reminded Naruto's of Mr. D's.

"Who's that? Do you know?" Naruto asked the others.

"I think it's a bellhop?" Percy answered.

"Without an uniform?"

"Casual Friday?"

"Isn't it Thursday?"

"Casual Thursday then?"

"Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key," the man said.

"Um, but..." Percy stammered.

"No, no," the man said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk.

Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides." He handed them each a green plastic credit card.

"We didn't ask for a room," Naruto said.

"Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, but the others didn't want to contest their luck.

They took the elevator upstairs and checked out their room. It was a suite with four separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television. The balcony had its own hot tub, and there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun so you could launch clay pigeons over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. He was new to this world, but from the others' reaction he knew it was too much for the usual hotel.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is…"

"Sweet," Grover completed. "Absolutely sweet."

"First thing first guys, let's take a bath. I'll call room service for some food, what do you guys want?"

As the others went to take their showers, Naruto went to use the phone and asked for their food, and the most complete ramen they had for himself. He also asked if they had a library he could visit.

They had, but the books were also all digitalized and available through the computers in the rooms. If it was to look for something, he could always search online.

He thanked them and went to take his own shower and try some of the clothes. He ended up wearing an outfit not much different from his old one, but if fit him better. He removed his hitai-ate and opened the jacket, leaving visible a black t-shirt with a red shuriken in the middle.

He went outside and ate his food, enjoying the other three banter about television channel choices. But when they decided to go have some fun, he declined. He had some research to do.

IIIII

Research done, he rubbed his eyes with a smile on his face. It took him three hours, but he found a mythological place in the desert they could be being sent to, even the closest things to instructions to finding it that could be found. The explorers that went there only found ruins, but it could very well be just the Mist.

The others didn't come back yet. And it was pretty late. Looking at the bed, he knew that if he laid down there no one would wake him in time to leave and take a bus or train to Los Angeles.

But they still needed some money… He sent a clone to make as much money on the casino part of the place as it could while he prepared everything for them to leave.

He emptied as much as he could of both the closets and the bar in the backpacks, putting them inside the sealing scroll. He found Ares' in Percy's trash, and filled it too, better safe than sorry.

Down there, Percy was playing some shooting game.

"Hey, it's time to go," Naruto said.

"Aw man, just a couple more minutes."

"Yeah man, bad vibes!" said the guy Percy was playing with.

"Sorry, but we have a job to do, and Percy has already been playing for three hours."

Percy's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but we have to get that thing back to your uncle and take your mom back home as soon as possible. Come, let's go get Grover and Annabeth."

Percy's eyes widened at the mention of his mother, and a fierce expression covered his face.

Grover was playing a game where he was a deer hunting some hunters. A kind of role reversal or something.

He was saying some insults to humans, and when Percy tried calling his attention he started trying to use the game gun to shoot _him_.

Naruto quickly figured out what was going on. Some kind of compulsion to keep them playing, like a genjutsu. The eyes glowing must have been a protection or something?

Nevertheless, he only knew of one method of dispelling genjutsu he was able to use.

So he slapped Grover. Hard, judging by the way he fell on the ground.

"Sorry, too much?"

Grover rubbed his cheek, which had a red mark. "No I think that was just what I needed… just… let one of us try to wake Annabeth up?"

Naruto shrugged.

The girl was in front of a model city… or so it seemed, but it grew and changed in front of Naruto's eyes.

"Ok, I'll leave her to you two. I got to pick up something first."

He went to the casino side and motioned to his clone, who quickly finished that round and changed the chips in money. Naruto grabbed the money and the clone dispelled. Two thousand, not bad. He quickly split it in four, putting one fourth in his pocket.

"Let's go then…" Annabeth said. She seemed to be in a bad mood due to having been tricked.

"Wait, I have two things to do. First, each of you take this," he said, giving one of the remaining three fourths to each.

"Second… I found it!"

"The lightining bolt?" Annabeth asked, eyes wide. "It is here?"

"No, not that. I found the place in the desert we may have to go."

"Oh…" Annabeth couldn't hide her disappointment. Naruto ignored it.

"Zerzura. A legendary city 'white as a dove', supposed full of treasure, with a sleeping king and queen and guarded by black giants to keep anyone from either going in or coming out."

"That's interesting and all, but we live in greek legends, Zerzura is not—"

"Not done Annabeth. I also read that people link Dionysius with,wait a minute, let me check," Naruto unseals and reads some printed pages, "'an Eleunisian mystery cult of Ancient Greece based on the use of an entheogenic plant: origins of sacred mushroom cults have been traced by scholars to the Sahara, in particular the Tassili-n-Ajjer area of Algeria, which boasts rock-painting dated as early as 10,000 BC. Some of these paintings apparently show shaman-figures toting mushrooms, and experiencing a shamanic trance. The 'City of Dionysus' myth may be a dim memory of this forgotten cult', so you see, there _is_ a link between Zerzura and greek myths."

"Wow Naruto," Percy said, "with all of this around us you were still focused on the mission… I lost myself if a few minutes!"

"I've been called hard-headed sometimes," Naruto said with a grin as an answer. "Since we had a good source of info, why not use it on the one thing we didn't have any about?"

"And all that just so we can go to the desert first…" Annabeth grumbled.

"Don't worry, we have time. We can go to the Underworld, come back then go look for Zerzura.

But for now, I think you three had fun enough. I'll see if I can take a ramen to go and we can leave."

He made a clone to leave with them… mostly to make sure they woldn't escape. The other three watched Naruto leave, resisting the urge to play some more, keeping in mind it was a trap.

When the real one arrived back though, Naruto was tense, looking at something behind the door.

"Oi," he asked the bellhop, "do you have a back exit?"

"Uhm, yes, it is that way, you just need to ask for it. But are you sure you want to go? Your platinum cards just got ready."

"We never applied for them," Naruto said as an answer. "We are leaving."

"Such a shame. We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He turned to Grover and Percy, who seemed the more tempted to continue there, card in hand. "Now!" Naruto ordered.

He made two clones, gave the four backpacks to them and they pushed the three others away.

"Wait!" Annabeth said, evading the clone on her side, her cap in her hand. "I don't know what is going on, but take this."

"But this is your mother's—"

"I know. You better give it back to me as soon as possible," she said, in a serious tone. Then smiled. "Be careful."

"Don't worry, I will."

As the clones took the three to the back door and would act as bodyguards in case anything tried to stop them (they would continue with them as much as possible after that though), Naruto walked out the door, standing up straight a couple meters in front of the entrance looking right at where one of the presences he felt was. The one he judged the stronger.

He ignored the sound of the whistling wind and the small burning sensation. He did get memories about the examiner for the second phase though.

A cut appeared in his cheek. And there was an arrow embedded on the door behind him, glowing silver.

IIIII

 **I think you guys can imagine the name of the next chapter… really, it's too perfect to resist.**

 **Sasuke was so talkative because he was under the mental influence of the Cursed Seal.**

 **For those that don't play Monster Hunter 4Ultimate, or never tried dual blades, while there is no explanation in-game, it works almost like here. There is the normal mode of using the swords, there is Demon Mode that uses Stamina and leaves you faster and stronger, and there is Archdemon Mode, new to 4, that is fueled by a constantly decreasing bar and is basically super demon mode, giving all demon mode gives but stronger and with better combos and fueled by a gauge that raises the more the user attacks while on demon mode.**

 **Vasovagal syncope is a real thing, but I am no doctor, not sure if I used the right word since it was induced. Carotid punch follows the same principle, but it is more effective but also more risky.**


	7. Hunter x Hunters

**Sorry for the lateness, not only there were some university issues and I advanced a bit on MH4U, there was a point my ideas skipped – I planned for before and after, but not the bit between. I think that part will be pretty clear to you readers.**

 **A guest reader said he thought Naruto told the trio too much, as the reader put it, "useless stuff" about his past… I personaly disagree.  
He was trying to make Grover feel better about his failure. For that, he told them about his own. But they needed context. Why the children of the village trained to be soldiers, his standing among his classmates and Sasuke, his progress and why Sasuke felt **_**he**_ **wasn't progressing and why he thought he had to, and finally Sasuke's betrayal and his promise to bring him back, and that he failed that promise for now.  
The flashback was just in Naruto's mind. He didn't tell them about the Sharingan, only that Sasuke could have got stronger like he wanted if he had killed him. That is a big thing in Naruto's book, since in the end Sasuke did **_**not**_ **kill him despite that and is what gives him hope for Sasuke here.  
So yeah, I think everything Naruto **_**did**_ **tell the trio needed to hear.**

… **But again, I wrote it in the first place. I'm a bit suspicious to judge.**

 **Another guest, with the nickname Bibboobob, found strange Annabeth not mentioning he was a child soldier. She was feeling a bit guilty at the time, but she did notice. Plans are for her to address it later, specially with his comparison of it with being trained at Camp Half-Blood.**

 **And finally, a third guest pointed out that Archdemon mode was introduced in Monster Hunter 3, not 4. Well, I looked for it, and while it was not in Tri, the official 3 and the one I played (in fact, there were no dual blades in Tri), it was in Portable3rd (not a direct port, and Japan only) and 3Ultimate. That means that unlike with 4 there are two international MH3s, and I only played the first yet. So sorry for the confusion.**

 **A personal opinion, I have no idea where people got the idea that the Lotus Hotel twists time… as far as I know it makes people lose** _ **sense**_ **of time and prevents them aging, but that's it. Else they wouldn't need to distract the people there so much.**

 **For the anime knowledged, yes, the chúi are the real name of the weapons used by Shampoo of Ranma ½.**

 **I have never been to Vegas so I can't say if my portrayal of the battle site is accurate, but according to the book the Lotus Hotel and Casino is in an alley so I took it as there are at least two buildings by the sides of the entrance.**

IIIII

Naruto ignored the cut, and pulled his scroll from his pocket. A second later, he was holding a pair of what looked like slightly spiky pink maracas. Those were chúi, Chinese maces used in pairs… and thus would be used by Naruto like a blunt set of dual blades.  
He had an idea of who was attacking him, and he knew he would be in trouble if he killed any of them.

He had no idea _why_ they were attacking him though. Did something happen to Temie and they blamed him?

Either way, he hoped Temie herself wasn't there… she may take using a weapon made of a monster that farted on her as an insult.  
Or poetic justice, since to make it they had to kill it first.

He avoided the other arrows easily. They were just as fast as the kunai the examiner had thrown at him. Yes, it had been a surprise at the time, but he could avoid them easily now.  
Which was the problem. They hed Temie's blessing, meaning they were able to shoot faster than any mortal, yet Temie herself could shoot faster arrows while in the Hunting Grounds without any divine power in it, basically shooting as if she was a mortal herself.

They were testing him. They were shooting slower so he could avoid them easier, but also harder than the normal mortal could avoid. Trying to find his limits. If he was right, they would shoot faster and faster.

He was. At first he was able to avoid them, always letting it get close so he could pretend he was slower. But soon he had to use the pink maracas to block. And not long after he was forced to use chakra. And no sign of them slowing down.

So he moved.

Since he was using chakra already, he moved forward with his full speed instead of needing a running start. An acceleration few of the Hunters of Artemis ever met, and those who did meet were so surprised they missed too.

They didn't take long to adapt though. After the first second he had to jump back to avoid more arrows. After the third he had to use the maracas again as all the hunters were shooting right on his path where he was going to be, some even when he jumped to a side in the middle of the charge to avoid them.

But it wasn't enough. As soon as he could he climbed the closest nearby building, getting a second's reprieve once more and quickly reaching the rooftops.

Up there, under the moonlight, he could finally see his attackers. About twenty girls, of apparent ages ranging from ten to eighteen… but their silver clothing quickly showed their affiliation.

Like he thought. The Hunters of Artemis.

He looked around. Many pipes and big metal boxes on top of the buildings that he had no idea what they could be. Most of them already had a Hunter on top of them, the rest on the surrounding buildings.

Lotus Hotel and Casino was still the tallest building around though, and Naruto doubted there were any on top of _that_ one.

"So… any reason you girls decided to attack me?"

"Silence, male!" said angrily a voice from his left, "you know full well why we are here!"

"I really, really don't."

"You—" The voice continued, only to be interrupted as a hunter in front of Naruto raised her hand. She didn't look much older than him, but seemed to be in a position of leadership.

"It does not matter. Surrender, or we shall continue to attack."

Naruto took a quick glance to the ground. There, he could see the other three and the two clones going to the bus station. And if he could see them, so could the Hunters. And if they could see them, they could shoot them.

He brought back his eyes to the group leader and paled. She had been looking at the direction he had, and he could see something in her eyes.

"I think I'm good, thanks. Now, why don't you guys lower your bows and we can all have a nice chat? Don't think you'd want to take a beating for a misunderstanding."

The Hunters bristled, but the leader smirked. Seemed like she knew what he had been trying to do.

"You seem pretty confident, for someone armed with a pair of maracas against twenty opponents pointing arrows at him," one of the Hunters mentioned. Naruto held back a sigh of relief.

"Oh, you think I'd be scared of you guys just because you have numbers?" Naruto said, mirth clear in his voice.

That seemed to anger the Hunters, just like he wanted. Whatever the glint in the leader's eyes meant seemed to have faded.

"I don't think thou understand thy situation."

"Oh, I do," he answered. "It is you girls who don't seem to get it. You think you got the advantage because you got numbers."

"Does thee believe to be good enough to fight to battle against us all by thyself?" the leaser asked, her eye twitching.

"By myself? Of course not. But numbers have one important condition to be an advantage…"

Naruto raised his hands to chest level as fast as he could, and the roof was covered in smoke.

When it dispersed, the Hunters could only blink, confused.

Where once was one Naruto, there were now two for each Hunter.

"They need to be higher than the other sides'," said one of the two in the middle.

Before the leader could give the order to attack, the Narutos advanced, the maracas raised like the maces they actually are.

The Hunters of Artemis are an incredible group. Most of them are part of it not for just years, but decades and sometimes even centuries. They have the experience and the teamwork of a well-oiled machine.  
And that's not counting the other improvements from the Blessing of Artemis.

Although they have the advantage in numbers, their victories against Camp Half-Blood in their Capture the Flag competitions proved they were not reliant only on it.

Naruto had barely a year and a half of training. Despite his clones sharing his thought patterns, he never focused himself in group tactics. All he had really was the number advantage, and he was more than aware they could counter it with their training.

 _But—_

He had faced worse odds.

As expected, more than half of the clones were dispelled before reaching their targets, who easily countered by dispelling their bows and summoning a pair of hunting knives. That was ok though, because their real target was distracting the other hunters while the real objective was done.

The leader was surprised that her two Narutos were the harder to defeat. Each of the other Hunters had been able to defeat at least one of them before they reached them, but here she was with two, who batted her arrows away much easier than the others.

No. _One_ of them did, while the other was mostly being protected by the other. He second had the same skill level of the others, but the leading one was much more agile than the others.

She gave the leading Naruto a smirk that would usually infuriate him, just to frown as she got another in return.

"Thy copies have mostly been destroyed, thy advantage is gone. Why does thee smile?" she asked, her blades crossing with the maracas while she avoided the other Naruto's attacks with no trouble.

"Well, if you didn't notice I am a better fighter than the ones you defeated. Water clones have just a tenth of the power of the user."

"And does thee really believe that such weaker copies will give us trouble?" the leader asked, with a mix of insulting and feeling insulted in her voice.

"They did what they were supposed to do, since they aren't water clones, but shadow clones."

The leader suddenly felt something hitting her in the stomach, faster and harder than before, throwing her back. She quickly rolled on the ground, standing up just in time to notice many of the other Hunters suffered just the same kind of surprise attack.

"Shadow clones are just as strong as the original," said the _other_ Naruto she had been fighting. The one that hadn't been a threat until then.

The one that was pretending to be weaker than the other. Just like every other Naruto in the battle.

They had been tricked, she realized as she did her best to avoid going down like some of the other surprised Hunters. Six of them fell before the rest got their heads well enough to fight back.

It wasn't that hard, actually. They were faster and more skilled than they expected, but their biggest weapon had been the surprise. Now that it was gone they were struggling to stay in the battle. The less experienced Hunters were having problems, but most of them were dealing with the threat easily. She was only having problems herself because he had kept two of them on her.

In fact, she was the only one of the fourteen still having an opponent. But she had to admit that he had given them a challenge.

Taking advantage of an opening, she stabbed one of the Narutos on the leg.

He didn't dispel.

Unlike every other did one once they got a good hit.

Knowing which was the real one, she punched the other one, who seemed clearly worried for the first, hard in the face…

Only for him to not dispel either.

She blinked in surprise, and next thing she noticed was she had arms wrapping around her waist and lifting her at high speed.

Knowing what was going on, she lifted her arms, hitting the ground with the right timing and angle to allow her to turn the suplex around, lifting herself upside down and throwing the Naruto holding her with a twist of her waist before finishing the roll.

The thrown Naruto poofed.

"Cool…" said the remaining Naruto.

"Thank you," she said, standing up. "And let me guess, shadow clones do not really dispel with one hit either."

"Yup!"

"But now you are surrounded. I suggest you surrender, since we will shoot you before you can make more copies. Unless you have another trick in your sleeve."

"Calm down, I wasn't going to. And yes, I wan out od tricks myself," the last Naruto said, raising his arms. "But now I'm curious, _can_ I make shadow clones?"

The Hunter raised her eyebrow. "You think you can be quicker than our arrows?"

"Oh no, I know that if I try you girls _will_ hit me before I can escape," the Naruto said, pensive. "It's just that…

We never tried seeing if a shadow clone can make its own shadow clones

so…"

The Hunters standing just looked at him, eyes wide.

The six fallen Hunters disappeared in smoke.

"Oh, Boss got in position, finally. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Bye bye!"

And thus the last Naruto the Hunters were fighting disappeared in a burst of smoke.

The leader finally could hear some sounds from… above?

"Everyone take cover!" she yelled, pulling the two girls by her side behind one of the metal boxes on top of the buildings.

Just in time, for the Hunters that didn't hide in time started grunting in pain as a rain of metal itens fell on them.

Three of them fell down. The rain of metal stopped and the three disappeared in smoke.

The leader got out of her cover, grabbing one of the metal items.

It was a metal sphere. Solid, by the weight of it.

"Cool aren't they?" came a voice from where one of the girls disappeared.

"They are painful, but don't make much real damage. Since I can clone myself, they are good to catch instead of kill," said the same voice, this time from where _another_ of the girls disappeared.

Without giving him time to say anything else, she summoned her bow and shot an arrow where the third fallen Hunter used to be.

It was deflected.

The only visible sign that there was something there was a ripple in the air.

"They're invisible! The clones are invisible this time!" she yelled as a warning.

That yell prompted the sound of many things stepping on the concrete, and the sounds of wind as they moved towards the Hunters.

However, this time the Hunters were at a disadvantage. They may know the speed and skill of their opponents, but they could not _see_ them.

Artemis' Blessing giving them some night vision made them untrained in fighting enemies they could not see. Some of them had some experience fighting invisible enemies, but the majority fought them rarely, if they ever did. Add to it the unknown but clearly big numbers judging by the footsteps, and most of them were unprepared.

The battle had turned.

This time, most of the remaining hunters were having problems. Of the eleven, only four were not suffering under the invisible Narutos' attacks, including unsurprisingly the leader and surprisingly one that seemed a little younger than Naruto himself. Not that it should be a surprise, the original reminded himself as invisible clones substituted with the fallen hunters on the lower building and others tied them up with wire like they did with the ones captured earlier, after all they stopped aging when they joined the Hunters of Artemis. As far as he knew, that younger one could be even more experienced than the leader.

"Zoë, we are trapped," said one of the other two to the leader.

"We were tricked completely," the now-identified Zoë agreed. "…I believe the opponent has shown skill enough for phase two."

That sent a shiver through Naruto's spine. _They also had another plan…_

Then the smaller Hunter _moved_.

She started jumping around, avoiding the attacks of the clones as if they were visible, hitting each of them in response with a whirlwind of attacks that would be deadly if it was the original. It was more like a force of nature than a little girl.

The remaining clones were being able to hold back the other three, but the girl was carving a path right on his direction. Naruto frowned, but prepared to make a group of clones to intercept her—

No! She slipped? Really?

Wouldn't be a problem if the slip didn't cause her to tumble _right out of the roof_!

Forgetting about clones, Naruto himself ran down the building as fast as he could to reach the girl, and jumped to grab her before she hit the ground.

He knew how to fall without being hurt, it is basic knowledge to become a Monster Hunter, but not while holding someone. So, he improvised.

Summoning as many clones as he could, they tried forming a giant cushion.

They dispelled as soon as he hit them, but they did what they set to do. He couldn't stand up, but slowly forced his arms open, letting the girl get out. She seemed to be a bit shaken, but no worse for wear.

Then she _grew up_ right in front of his eyes.

"Temie?"

Wide-eyed, Naruto had no idea how he didn't notice they looked alike until now.

"Thanks for the save Doodle!" the now grown-up Artemis said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll leave you to have a chat with my Hunters. But don't worry, I'm pretty sure this stunt should have relieved them of their doubts."

Naruto's eye twitched.

"I'd try to beat you up for this—"

"And fail," Artemis added.

"—but I don't think I can stand up."

"Ah, don't worry. Nothing Phoebe can't take care of."

One of the three free Hunters entered his vision at Artemis' prompt right before the goddess nudged him on his belly with her foot."

"Phoebe is one of more experienced. She is our best tracker besides Lady Artemis herself and our best healer," said the voice of Zoë.

"So… why are you all trying to stop our quest?" Naruto asked conversationally.

"Oh, we aren't. The girls got an idea of hunting you to check how you are. Now that it's done I have to go, we gods can't help you directly in quests."

Naruto could only see a silver flash, and Artemis' feet disappeared from his vision.

'Wait, what about when she let me see in the dark or when she helped me with the compulsion?'

He thought better not to mention it for now though. If it could give her problems for helping him…

"I have to remove your jacket and shirt to put medicine on your back," said the voice of who he guessed was Phoebe. He raised his arms so she could pull them off easier.

A cool cream touched his back, and he soon found it being spread all across his back.

"That would become a nasty bruise without treatment…"

"Used to it. Got many bruises during training. I heal fast."

He looked to the side, seeing all the captured Hunters already released and approaching him. They sat down around him, as if ignoring his presence.

One of them picked something from the ground.

"That's Annabeth's invisibility cap," he explained. "I promised to take it back to her after I finished… whatever just happened."

"An assessment," came Zoë's voice from behind his head. "We needed to check if thee was as honorable as Lady Artemis thought. She protects us, so we do her best to protect her back."

Naruto nodded. As much as he thought the old man and granny Tsunade were powerful, he too would try his best to protect them if needed. He _did_ try defending Tsunade once before she became Hokage, even.

"Wait, if Temie gave me her ok, why did you girls attack me?" he asked, confused.

"Well," Zoë explained, "there is a saying that to know someone thou has to fight them. Fighting brings out their emotions and feelings, letting thee know their real thoughts. When fighting they let out some of your most primal instincts and the way they do it allows thee to know what type of person they are. There is no better way to break all the masks than to put them in the corner and make them fight for their life."

"That's new to me. I _was_ told that strong fighters are able to talk without words while in battle though.

So, how did I do?"

"Well, thy first thought was to thy companions, and tried angering us to make us forget about them. Thou art resourceful, using the expected weaknesses of thy techniques against thy opponents. Thou also focused on the least lethal fighting thee could. And finally, thou sacrificed thyself to protect someone that as far as thee knew was attacking thee.

I cannot say for the others, but my analysis of thee is positive."

"Thanks.

But I still don't get why Tem—Artemis' words weren't enough."

"Because we didn't know if you were being true to yourself when near her," said Phoebe, who finished applying the healing cream.

Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Wouldn't she have been able to tell?"

"Lady Artemis is great, but she is not perfect," Phoebe said, sitting down in front of him. Zoë sat by her side.

"We have reason to be worried. Last time Lady Artemis trusted a man it was fine, he was honorable and respectful… But the one before, the first one… You might have heard about Orion?"

"Many different stories. Not sure what to trust," Naruto replied.

"I was already a member when he joined us. He was a good hunter, about as good as Lady Artemis herself. She saw him as her best friend and even asked him to join us. But… he did not see Lady Artemis the same way she saw him.  
He acted respectful to us, but we could see in him what our lady missed. He had fallen in love with her. She did not notice, but we did, his many attempts to charm her. To her, he was just being friendly. To us, he was getting more and more frustrated as she dismissed his romantic advances. We feared what he would end up doing.  
I do not know what Lord Apollo saw, but we can imagine. We do not know what he told her as an explanation, but she eventually forgave him. What we do know is that Lord Apollo made him focus on hunting instead of on her.  
He claimed that he would hunt every animal in the world. Lady Artemis is against hunting for pleasure, so she kicked him out of our group. But she is a kind person to those she considers friends, so she went to try to change his mind. That was when she found him dead by the scorpion, and as a tribute to her dead friend she put both him and the scorpion in the sky as a constellation.

He did not appreciate it even after being reborn, though. He has a deep hatred of both us and Lady Artemis now. Zoë took it as a personal mission to hunt him back whenever there is a sight of him."

"That is why we did not trust thee around Lady Artemis," Zoë took back the conversation, "but is not the only reason most of the Hunters were against thee interacting with them. Many of us had our own bad experiences with males, and some have developed complexes or phobias. Lady Artemis' offer was a way to leave them behind. Thou represents the past they wanted to escape from, and we _had_ to prove to them that thou art not like the other males in their lives."

Naruto nodded, or as close to one as he could. He thought it was unfair to label the whole male gender, but he had no idea what happened to them so he couldn't judge, and they _were_ giving him a chance to prove himself different from whoever hurt them.

"…So… now that you all know I'm not a jerk… What now?"

Ignoring Zoë's mutterings of "jesk is not enough for that man", Phoebe pushed him back down.

"Now you will rest for at least a couple of hours to let the medicine take effect. Meanwhile we can talk. Lady Artemis told us a bit of your life story, but not everything."

"Ok, I guess… What _do_ you girls know about me?"

IIIII

They talked. They talked about Naruto's beginnings, his loneliness, about Mizuki's treachery and finaly finding out why he was ignored by everyone, about Haku and how he changed his view and how he now wanted to be Hokage not for recognition but to protect those important to him.

That was when another Hunter arrived.

"Zoë," she called, "They left him behind."

Every Hunter of Artemis widened their eyes , but Naruto smiled.

"A third Naruto appeared claiming to be the original, delivered the invisibility cap to the girl and left with them. They took a taxi, and will probably get to Los Angeles in a couple hours."

"Guilty!" Naruto said.

Zoë blinked in front of him. "Why?"

"We only got a week to find something the best trackers in Olympus failed to find, from what Ares said. The time they would have to wait for me to heal they could use better by keeping the search."

She crossed her arms, but couldn't help but nod. "And now thou need to find thyself a way to arrive there."

"Details. I was thinking on taking a look in the desert to check a hunch anyway, we were going to come back to do this later but since I'm already still here…"

"You will need supplies, and a vehicle. The desert is big and a danger without those. And you need to be an adult and have enough money to get a vehicle," Phoebe pointed out.

"Meh, I can always use a transformation technique to pretend I'm one. …I better iris message the camp to be able to buy it in their name though."

"And the money?"

"Clones in casinos. The only reason I didn't do it before was Annabeth being all moral about laws."

"Does thee really think it will be so easy?" Zoë asked.

Naruto shrugged.

IIIII

"A Land Cruiser," Zoë said in disbelief.

Naruto's clones had been playing until the car store opened. That was the car he bought.

In a completely unrelated matter, an old man called Hiruzen Sarutobi was forbidden from going to ten different casinos due to being "too lucky".

"I was told it was a classic for crossing the desert. I took it as meaning it is pretty good," Naruto confirmed as he put some fuel in the trunk.

"…Does thee know how to drive?"

"Can't be that hard… can it?"

She sighed.

IIIII

"Well, I think thou art good enough," Zoë said, stretching herself. It took another hour, but Naruto was in what she considered 'an acceptable level'.

Which is debatable, since even the other Hunters did not consider _her_ driver skills acceptable for society.

"Thanks Zoë," Naruto said from inside the car. "What are you girls doing now?"

"We will return to our camp, at Lady Artemis' side. Our mission here is done, time to go back to hunting monsters," said Phoebe.

"Well, good luck! Hope to see you girls soon, I was about the only one that told their story, I want to be friends with you all!"

As the car disappeared in the Mojave Desert, the Hunters turned around and went back to their own camp.

"Well… This went well," said one of the Hunters.

"Yeah, he in the end _is_ a nice person."

Zoë and Phoebe shared a look.  
He isn't just a nice person, he suffered just like some of the Hunters did, including Zoë. And while he had been able to push himself forward without Lady Artemis, they knew that she was as precious to him as she was to them.  
But there was some anger deep inside. He pushed it away, but he needed a release sooner or later.

IIIII

The ruins weren't that hard to find, Naruto mused… probably because he wasn't exactly a mortal, so the Mist didn't hide them so well from his search.

As the car approached the ruins, though, Naruto started feeling weaker and weaker. Not physically, but like his chakra wasn't working properly. It was almost like…

"No way…"

He quickly turned off the car… Then thought better, and turned it around. Easier for a quick runaway if needed.

With a sigh, he picked a backpack from the trunk and started walking.

The closer he got, the more he could feel his chakra being blocked. It was as if his tenketsu closed off by some external force, but were fighting against it. As if saying "you are not welcome here" to his chakra pathways, but not to anything else in him.

The same feeling as when he entered the Hunting Grounds, only gradual.

The city was supposedly guarded by black giants… He was suddenly wishing they were, at least black giants can be reasoned with.

As he approached though, no sight of any giants… or of anyone really. Wasn't Zerzura supposed to be a city? He heard of no ruins in the desert, so it wasn't the work of the Mist hiding any people living there either…

He entered as stealthily as he could… which considered he was a trained ninja was not a small amount of stealth. No black giants approached, so either there was no magical barrier and they relied on sight or there were no giants there anymore.

The town really was ruins, though. It wasn't that big, about a hundred visible houses until reaching a tower in the middle. It seemed like the town was built surrounding the tower, like it held something important.

The legend told of a sleeping king and queen…

Carefully he crossed the city in the direction of the tower, being careful for anything that may be out there.

The town looked abandoned. The houses looked old, the doors and windows, of wood, were still there so it probably wasn't _that_ long ago. But… why?

An invasion? There _were_ signs of struggle, broken houses, rusted weapons on the ground, burn marks…

The tower was big, about three times the width of the Hokage tower, but not even half as high.

Naruto doubted the Lightning Bolt was really there… No defenses until now, and it was a really visible place. If the person who got it was smart, they would hide it in a usual house in the town.

But… he was curious.

He looked through the whole tower, finding… nothing. In neither level of it, all he found were papers too old to be readable and some spoiled food. And some weapons, all of them rusted.

This was the most important place in town… Maybe it was the wrong town of legend? Maybe it was just an old mortal ghost town?

Sighing at the waste of time, for his conscience's sake, he went to check the top of the tower…

And the only thing he could think as he reached there was that he definitely should **not** say the "oh shit" that he thought aloud. For his own sake.

He never saw the two beings sleeping on the top of the tower before, but he god enough descriptions.

The great wyverns Rathian and Rathalos, the Queen of the Land and the King of the Skies.

And between them, a stone tablet.

Approaching it, Naruto could feel his brain being worked more than it should, the fox pendant Athena made for Temie to give him feeling like hot coal on his chest.

But if he forced himself to see past the headache and heat to concentrate on the writing on the stone, he could understand the text…

Probably.

Fear the Darkness  
Fear the Herald of Calamity  
For when the Darkness turns into Elder Light  
The Heaven's Wheel shall turn the world  
Life must leave to come again  
Turn, turn, Heaven's Wheel  
Turn, turn so we may heal

'The darkness turns into elder light… this is the same as Percy's prophecy!' Naruto thought. 'But… "life must leave" does not sound good.'

"Damn it, I hate prophecies!" Naruto blurted.

His eyes widened at his own stupidity.

For as soon as he said that, the ones of the two wyverns opened. And they did not look happy.

Naruto did not have time to think, so he did what he thought was his safer bet:

He ran past the two and jumped from the top of the tower.

IIIII

 **Sorry for the short chapter, the battle was smaller than I expected and the memory I planned for it will be better next one.**

 **I had planned for more focus on the battle when Naruto was invisible, but then I found out Artemis usually hunted with twenty of her hunters, not fifty like I read somewhere before… Also, my plans involved him throwing kunais, but that would be too dangerous since he didn't want to hurt them much for Artemis' sake. So I used metal spheres like the ones used in ball bearings. They are not exactly ninja gear, but work like less damaging caltrops in D &D (at least 5e), making the targets slip instead of hurting their feet. Yeah, not exactly an official weapon on any of the three canons this story is about, but I believe it is useful enough Naruto would carry them, with his prankster background and all.**


	8. Here there be Monsters

**By the time of this writing, we have 135 reviews, 437 favorites and 540 follows to this very story.**

 **Those are not small numbers! Those are big numbers! I'd like to thank you guys for your time reading.**

 **Something was pointed to me by monkiepawn: I rushed the first chapter. The meeting between Naruto and Artemis held a lot of potential, but I chose to skip most of it in order to be able to start the Percy Jackson storyline quickly.**

 **Now, you may have noticed, but these flashbacks are focuses on the main differences between canon and this story. I'm not sure how long it will take to reach all the changes, there is at least the battle with Neji, with Gaara (those that pay attention may notice the main change in Gaara's battle will be shown this chapter already), the Tsunade arc and… well, maybe the battle against Kimimaro, since the battle against Sasuke was already shown. So, not that much to go.**

 **So, a question: After their lack was pointed out, I really believe I should write that time they spent hunting together. So, do you believe I should reveal it in flashbacks, or should I make a side-story just for it? Or do both, write a side-story and eventually add it to the main one as flashbacks?**

IIIII

 _Jiraiya was worried._

 _Naruto was making absolutely no progress in summoning. The best toad summon he could do was the small ones Gamachiki and Gamatatsu, and the only Palico summon was Ace._

 _Ace did explain that summoning him was because he had no other Palico summon yet, since they were summoned by individual contracts instead of clan ones like most in the Elemental Nations, so that was not a big deal. The toad summons, on the other hand…_

 _To make matters worse, Naruto was making no progress using the fox's chakra either. He could imagine where the smaller but easier to control silver chakra came from, which explains why it summoned a being from the Hunting Grounds (even if as far as Jiraiya was aware_ Naruto _should have been sent there, maybe the Toad contract served as an anchor?), and it could be useful if Naruto ever wanted a technique his usual control was too low for, but the fox chakra would be a massive boost in power!_

 _But he had an idea to make him summon the "red" chakra… It would be risky, but he trusted Naruto would figure out what to do in time._

IIIII

 _Naruto was falling._

 _Jiraiya had thrown him in the ravine, and he was going too fast to be able to hold the wall._

 _If he didn't do something quick, he was going to die!_

" _Open your arms and legs wider, and become parallel to the ground for now!" said Ace, who was falling beside him… When did he get there? "We need to lower your terminal velocity!"_

" _What are you doing here?"_

" _I jumped after you! I need to take care of my minion after all!" Ace answered as if it was obvious. "By the way, remind me later to kill that idiot. But for now it is the best time to teach you to take a fall with no big harm!"_

" _What?" Naruto's eyes widened._

" _Basic Hunter knowledge. Should have taught you earlier. Now pay attention, we don't have much time until we hit the ground, and you need to do it right the first time!"_

 _Naruto nodded._

IIIII

Using Ace's teachings, Naruto fell to the ground unhurt, even if in a bit of pain.

As soon as he could he jumped forwards, avoiding being crushed by the Rathian, a muted green, almost grey wyvern with strong legs and a club-like poisonous tail, known as Queen of the Land due to being more used to charging their opponents than actually flying… and for being the female of the species.

As quick as he could Naruto ran away, staying near the houses. He was with neither weapon or armor, some kunais in his holster tops, and without being able to use chakra for whatever reason he would need to use blood on the special scroll Jiraiya gave him some time ago.

He looked back at hearing a suspicious sound, and saw the flames in the Rathian's mouth as she prepared herself. He quickly jumped away from the house at his side.

Just in time. The Rathian threw a fireball, scorching the wall of the house and making the door and window catch fire.

Naruto noticed a shadow growing and quickly rolled, avoiding the Rathalos' claws. Unlike its female, the Rathian, the Rathalos is a vibrant red, his tail and wings have spikes, the venom is in its claws instead of the tail and, most important, opposite the Rathian that charges from the ground it stays mostly in the air (although it does not do so bad when grounded either), giving it the title of King of the Skies.

Surrounded, Naruto went to the quickest escape route, launching himself shoulder-first into the burning door. Thankfully it worked, the fire weaking the already time-damaged door enough he was able to break it open enough for him to enter.

He quickly assessed the place… and it wasn't good. It was a one-room house. If there was at least a wall to buy him some time…

Hearing something heavy land on top of the house, he ran to open the window on the opposite side. And, just as he thought, the Rathian charged the door, not being able to break the entrance wide enough to enter herself but wide enough to enter her _head_. Her fireball-throwing head.

Knowing he was open prey to the Rathalos, but also knowing he was a _confined_ prey to the Rathian inside – and he had no doubt she would break the door open if she was persistent enough, uncaring if he was smashed by the ceiling – he jumped through the window just in time to avoid the fireball.

The Rathalos was a problem, but his stunt hopefully confused the Rathian enough he bought himself enough time to go back to the tower. He was sure it was far from enough to keep them out, but hopefully he would be able to buy enough time to prepare himself for battle.

He ran, close to the houses so the Rathalos would not have much room to try and catch him without hitting a wall. That would hopefully knock him down.

The Rathalos was smart enough not to try. Naruto didn't mind, it wasn't a fall but wasn't an attack either.

As fast as he could without without letting it fall, and hoping this area really worked like the Hunting Grounds, he grabbed his special scroll and bit a finger, putting the blood over one of the special storage seal in it. Luckily, he was able to retrieve the Stealth Glaive before the Rathian appeared… Right in front of him!

Working on pure instinct, Naruto put the tip of the glaive in the ground and pressed the trigger, making it launch him upwards and over the wyvern.  
Of course, that left him perfectly placed for the Rathalos' attack, who dived on him. Naruto was able to block the claws on its foot with the pole of the glaive, but the tail was too big to defend himself from up there.

As Naruto took the tail to the chest and was thrown to the ground, he couldn't help but be thankful that the Rathalos' tail was not poisonous like the Rathian's.

And that Phoebe had healed him properly. This fall was not done properly, and he fell on his back. While lower than the one where he fell from a tall building, he had no chakra or clones to absorb the impact.

Oh, he wasn't that damaged, but he would definitively feel it later, unlike the other one.

As he prepared to stand up, he saw the Rathian charging him and rolled on the floor to the side to avoid her, throwing himself upwards at the end as a way to stand quickly.

Now both wyverns were between him and the tower…

But he was going to the tower to avoid them anyway.

He turned around and ran.

He could practicaly hear the wyverns blink as they looked confused for a few seconds, before he heard the heavy but fast footsteps of the charging Rathian. He would usually jump between houses to avoid the charging monster, but he quickly had a plan.

When he judged she got close enough, Naruto put the glaive on the ground in front of him and polevaulted, before pushing the trigger to be thrown even harder upwards over the charging wyvern…

And falling on top of her, mounting her.

The Rathian trashed, trying to throw Naruto off so she could trample him, but kept going forward at a higher speed than Naruto could currently go.

The young hunter grabbed a kunai, and stabbed with all his force on her back.

With a howl, the wyvern jumped in pain and tripped, rolling on the ground. Naruto wasted no time and jumped on front of her.

Already expecting a reprisal, he looked back, glaive on the ground. And just as expected, the Rathalos dove into a lunge.

A second glaive-assisted jump ended with Naruto hitting the Rathalos between the wings, making it fall down. Taking advantage of it, the boy kept running past it, using its big body as a living shield against any possible charge from the Rathian.

That should give him about fifteen seconds—

'Nope, five,' he thought a bit disappointed, as a fireball almost hit him. He quickly jumped to the side to avoid a second one, glad the ground wasn't in flames this time, even if it was hot – not like he stayed there long enough to be burnt. It seemed like the Rathian could sacrifice flames for quantity.

But, even if Naruto was without chakra, his body was still as flexible as a ninja. A third pole vault allowed him to grab the upper edge of a house, and he took advantage of the impulse to twist himself to the top of it. Most of the houses were close enough he was able to ride over there all the way to near the entrance of the town. That would get him out of range of most of the Rathian's attacks.

Or so was the plan.

Naruto cursed. The Rathian was mostly land-based but was still a wyvern, as it proved by rising from the ground together with the Rathalos. She was slower than the male, but was still good enough to follow and throw fireballs at him it seemed.

Luckily, the wind was quiet enough he could hear the sound of the wyverns charging their fireballs.

He ran, pole vaulting between the houses he wasn't sure he could just jump… until he reached a couple of houses near the entrance with just enough width for what he wanted. He stopped, and rolled to the side to avoid the Rathalo's dive. It wasn't his current target.

The Rathian landed on the rooftop. Naruto positioned himself on the edge.

The Rathian charged. Naruto waited until she was close and thew himself to the ground.

Surprised, she fell after him, getting stuck between the two houses.

She was too big to move.

Naruto ran. If the plan worked, she would take some time to free herself. Probably by breaking the houses.

Looking behind him, he could see the Rathalos trying to help his mate. Good, better than he expected!

As Naruto exited the city and crossed the desert in the direction of his car, he could feel his chakra returning as if it never left.

Just in time, as the Rathalos was carrying the Rathian, and threw her near the machine.

The Rathian roared as it stood up, preparing to charge.

But Naruto had chakra now!

He made four clones, that split into two groups and began forming spheres of energy. Before Naruto entered the car, he couldn't help noticing the silver hue on the technique that wasn't there last time.

The Rathian wasn't bothered out of her charge. So she met the first group head-on.

And thus got a Rasengan to the head.

The Rasengan is an amazing technique, a sphere that grinds the opponents. However, this wyvern had a thick hide, so she pressed against the technique with her charge and pushed back the clone holding it, who tried to stand his ground as well as he could.

As the clone pushed it against her, the technique _exploded_. The clone dispelled, while the Rathian was thrown backwards, worse for wear.

With an angry roar, the Rathalos dove to avenge his mate, getting the second Rasengan to the wing. The results were the same, but this time the explosion threw the wyvern to the side, making him avoid the car.

Naruto, the original, drew his hunting knife from the scroll, and approached the downed monsters. He had an advantage now… and if they were agonizing a responsibility to end it as quick and painless as he could.

But before he could do so, the Rathian stood up and beat its wings, slowly rising from the ground. The Rathalos soon joined it, and they flew back to the city.

Naruto gulped. If he had tried to end their misery, _he_ would probably be the one ended.

Then he frowned. In the end, his visit was useless. All he found was something that looked like a prophecy and somewhere that should not exist in this world… All good finds, but nothing to do with the Lightning Bolt he was looking for.

And even the Rasengan couldn't put the two monsters down. Not even the Rathian who was hit in the head!

With a sigh, he got on the car and left the desert, not noticing the horned wyvern that burrowed out of the ground.

Luckily for Naruto, it did not notice him either.

IIIII

The three were cycling through anger, worry and annoyance.

After all he said about abandoning friends, he just… made them leave him behind!

In their heads they knew he was just trying to protect them, but it only made them feel worse.

And now they were at Santa Monica, trying to figure out what to do. The message Percy got only told him to get there.

With a sigh, Percy decided to follow his instincts, and began walking to the sea.

"What are you doing?" Asked Annabeth, in a worried tone. "Do you know how polluted that water is?"

Percy ignored her, entering the water. He really hoped that his water powers would protect him from the pollution now, though.

He could _sense_ where everything was underwater. From the smaller creatures to the shark rubbing its head on his leg like a happy puppy.

At the shark's urging, he grabbed its fin and was taken to the entrance of the ocean proper, in front of a huge drop in the sand.

Not long later, a beautiful woman, riding a white stallion-sized seahorse, arrives.

The woman was a Nereid, a sea spirit that serves in his father's court. They talked, about why his father – or rather, gods in general, were not allowed to meet their children to avoid showing favoritism, and they can only influence indirectly. Which is why she was bringing gifts and an advice.

She held out her hand, and four white pearls flashed in her palm.

She told him that his travel to the underworld was known, and reminded him that few had ever done it and returned, like Orpheus who could charm Cerberus, Hercules who defeated it in combat with his strength, and Houdini who even the depths of Tartarus couldn't hold. But she said that there was a warning about his future, a great and terrible one, if he survived long enough. His father wanted him to survive that far.  
Those pearls would help him if he ever needed them, as long as he smashed them at his feet. The result would depend on what he needed, but he needed to remember that "what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea".

Then it was time for the warning.

"Go with what your heart tells you, or you will lose all. Hades feeds on doubt and hopelessness. He will trick you if he can, make you mistrust your own judgment. Once you are in his realm, he will never willingly let you leave."

"Naruto does not think he was the one to steal the Master Bolt…"

"He may not be. But the point is not about the Master Bolt, but about escaping his realm."

Percy was about to nod his understanding… when he _sensed_ it.

He had no idea what it was, but it did not seem friendly.

Quickly, taking the Nereid by surprise, he grabbed her arm and jumped to the side right as whatever it was charged where they were.

"What is this thing?" he asked frantic, drawing Riptide.

"I-I don't know," the nereid answered nervously.

That did _not_ make him feel any better.

It was big. Smaller than a whale, but bigger than any shark outside a Jaws movie. And it did not look much like it was an aquatic creature… yes, it had fins and the body was covered in scales, but it swan with _legs_. That meant it was amphibious. And that meant that going out of the water would be no good – it may be weakened, but so would Percy.

The boy's eyes widened.

He could feel the… dragon? It looked like a dragon, the type with two legs and two wings, wyvern? Anyway, it was sucking water. A lot of it!

He pushed the nereid away, throwing himself the other way. Right on time, as he could feel water at _very_ high speed crossing where they once were.

A high-pressure water jet. Percy could feel the water, but it was going too fast for him to do anything to it.

Percy noticed the being was moving his tail, downwards while looking in his direction…

It was mostly instinct that allowed Percy to put Riptide on the way. The upwards tail flick while the creature backflipped would have broken his ribs otherwise. As it was, the sword was thrown away in the deep chasm in front of the demigod.

Luckily for Percy, he could swim, but he could also treat the water as air if he wanted. That allowed him to throw himself to the ground without fighting the water buoyancy, letting him reach it safely while the monster dashed above him.

Not wasting any time, he pulled the pen from his pocket, turning it back into a sword. Before the creature finished turning, he went to attack it at the hip—

He did not completely understand what happened. One minute he was attacking a creature turned away, the next something that felt like a scaled truck hit him.

He was almost thrown down the chasm when the nereid pulled him back.

"It was a hip strike," she said. Percy nodded, that explained it.

…No it didn't! What creature had such deadly hips? Monster Shakira?

Nope, no time to be thinking about that. The creature was rushing at him again.

He quickly jumped to the side, aiming to cut it at the head.

It did get a cut, having broken some scales. The water near the cut took a red tinge. But no way close to usual "celestial bronze on monster" reactions.

"This thing is a natural creature?" the nereid cried, eyes wide.

Well, that explained it… _and_ would make things harder…

The creature rushed him once more. Percy let himself fall to the ground once more, trying to hit its belly.

He failed.

He did hit one of the legs though, and it did not cut much deeper than the head, but on the other hand it was an easier target…

The… monster, Percy had no other way to describe it despite being natural, quickly turned around, furious, charging another water jet.

Percy did something desperate, and completely stupid: he tried jamming Riptide inside the monster's mouth.

It pierced its mouth but stood there, like a hook if it was a normal fish. The pain made the creature miss, but now Percy was unnarmed.

Suddenly, Percy could feel something pulling him through his shirt, fast, away from the creature. Looking over his shoulder, it was the nereid in her white seahorse.

Not being able to go away from the sea in the seahorse, she threw Percy outside, before being taken back to the sea just as fast as she was before.

Percy stood up, worried. He wasn't too far from the shore, he could see Annabeth and Grover, with the remaining Naruto clone (the others being dispelled before taking the taxi not to get much attention… and because he was pretending to be the original Naruto, the ass), probably the creature wouldn't be able to reach him. He was still worried for the nereid—

Then he heard something getting out of the water behind him. Something _big_.

"Oh right. Amphibious."

Percy ran as fast as he could to the shore. The creature was slower outside the depths, but would overtake him soon.

He saw the Naruto clone running in his direction. If he had enough breath he would yell at the idiot to run away—

And then he was in the shore.

Looking back, the Naruto clone was running in the other direction, followed by the creature.

…wait, was he running _over the water_?

"That idiot!" Percy couldn't help screaming.

"Save your breath," Annabeth said. "We knew that before we even reached the beach."

Percy took a deep breath. It was no use being angry anymore.

"What is he going to do?"

"He didn't tell us, just said that he had to take you away from it as soon as possible before you were killed," Grover answered. "He also said not to worry about him since he was just a clone though."

Percy took a deep breath.

"Ok, ok. So, any idea what it was? It didn't answer much to Riptide, so the nereid said it is a natural monster."

"Well, Naruto's clone called it a Plesioth," Annabeth said, "that probably means it is related to the plesiosaurus, a dinosaur. Normal animals can be affected by Celestial Bronze since the Hunters of Artemis use weapons blessed with the same properties to hunt, even if mortal humans can't."

"We better get going," Grover said. "We have less than a week to find the Master Bolt."

"But what of Naruto's clone?"

"He will probably dispel himself when he reaches far enough.

Percy frowned, but nodded. He had no choice.

He worried about if any mortals met the creature though. Even if it wasn't affected by Celestial Bronze, it felt just as wrong as when he met an actual monster…

IIIII

The Naruto clone ran as fast as he could. While young ones were easy to capture with a fishing machine, adult Plesioths were a _big_ deal between Hunters, and not just because of their infamous "hipchecks".

Plesioths were deadly. As in, you need to be an experienced Hunter to have any chance. Artemis? Definitely. Her Hunters? He wasn't sure, probably as a group.

A single clone of Naruto? Not likely, at least not yet, and definitely not unarmed and unarmored.

He sighed. They definitely didn't take being tricked into leaving him behind well. But he was captured, and he doubted they would have any chance to rescue him… if he did need rescue. He was sure he saw Temie herself approaching him before leaving with Annabeth's cap.

Thinking about himself as another person is confusing, but he was used to it.

Now, what to do… He was realistic enough to know he had no chance against it by himself, since… did cloned scrolls have cloned things inside? If not, he was unarmed and unarmored for good. Even if yes, he'd need to get some space to unlock and wear them.  
And no Rasengan. Even if he has been trained to use it without clones, he is still not good enough.

On the other hand, even if the other three were far enough he had to make sure no mortal was left helpless with the Plesioth. He wasn't sure if the Mist would hide it, and was even more doubtful if being mortal would make them unappetizing.

…by the way… **What was a Plesioth doing there?**

He was running at middle speed, not fast enough the Plesioth thought he was too hard a prey, not slow enough it would be able to catch him on land. But he would soon run out of space, or reach a mortal. In fact, he was surprised he didn't yet.

That thought was answered by the whizzing of an arrow, and a roar of anger.

The clone stopped and looked backwards. Not a glance to see if it was being followed still, but an actual look this time.

There was a silver arrow embedded on its eye.

Before the piscine wyvern could recover, many more arrows pierced it, even if they weren't sent as strongly. As the monster turned around and prepared to throw a water jet in the direction the arrows came from, the clone finally turned to there with it.

The Hunters of Artemis. With Artemis herself preparing another arrow.

Her next arrow hit the monster in the mouth, piercing the throat. It was not enough damage to defeat it, but it did break its concentration and stop the jet for now.

Then she ran forward, not in the Plesioth's direction but the Naruto clone's… and he wasn't sure, but was she shrinking?

Regardless, he understood immediately, and prepared a platform with his hands.

Artemis jumped, and fell on top of his hands, tensing her knees again. As soon as she started tensing her legs to jump again, the clone threw the hands upwards, adding to the strength of the jump.

The goddess fell on the monster's back, growing back to full size immediately, and held a grip on its fin with one hand, the other lifting and summoning a hunting knife.

With experience, she hit the wyvern in the back of the neck a few times, making the beast get weak on the knees and lose control of its legs with the pain, falling down and throwing her away.

She threw her knife to the Naruto clone and summoned another. The Naruto nodded.

They advanced. While the Naruto went for the belly, the most common softer area, the goddess went for the neck. As the clone's knife stabbed it as far as the ninja could push, which with chakra was pretty far, the goddess cut its throat open.

The water beast squirmed, trying to stand. Its injuries were serious, so it wanted to run away.

The clone jumped on its mouth, pulling the sword out.

With a sword in one hand and a hunting knife in the other, he made a bastardized version of the Dual Blades style, using Demon Mode to cut the monster's legs, trying to knock it down.

He succeeded.

Artemis pulled him out before the falling monster smashed him, and took the sword. With her divine strength, she cut the beast's head off with a clean cut.

The Naruto clone allowed himself to fall to the ground breathless.

"You know… you've been holding back on the boss…"

"Not really. Like you, I wasn't able to use all my power all the time we were in the Hunting Grounds. Don't know why, my domains of Hunt and Wilderness are at their strongest there, but something holds me back from being able to use them. Not that I have a reason to complain. It is a good feeling, the challenge of being able to defeat them without using my divine powers to boost me."

The clone frowned. That… didn't make much sense… or did it? Chakra wasn't able to be used there either…

"By the way, what is a Plesioth doing here?" she asked.

His eyes widened.

"So you don't know either?"

The goddess frowned too this time.

"We heard about a water monster, but couldn't feel it. Now I know why, it is not a supernatural monster, even if it is not exactly a natural being either."

"Yeah, I heard they were engineered by a lost race in a war against humans or something…" the clone agreed.

"Actually I meant it is not from this world, but that too," she agreed.

They stood there for a bit, thinking. But it was no use. They were out of info.

"So, what will you do with the body?" the clone asked.

"No idea," she answered. "Usually they turn into dust here. And as big as it is, don't think there is much I can do with it that would benefit the Hunters as a whole. I don't like playing favorites either, so…"

The clone nodded.

"To be honest, I already get as much as I can from the younger ones I fish in Sunsnug Island. But maybe I can use it to make something for Percy. He was the one it attacked, and he got water powers. Now, how to get it to boss' place…"

"Oh, leave it to me," Artemis said.

At that point, the other Hunters arrived by their side.

Zoë's eyes widened, and she glared at the sword at Artemis' hand.

"Lady Artemis, what is Anaklusmos doing here?"

"Oh, this is it?" Artemis said, finally taking a good look at the blade in her hand. "It was stuck in the Plesioth's mouth."

"Percy must have got it stuck there when he was attacked," the Naruto said. "I'm a bit surprised it didn't get back to him yet."

"Throw it in the sea, it will probably go to him soon now that it is free."

With a nod, the Naruto took the sword from Artemis and threw it in the ocean. He couldn't help noticing that Zoë was much more relaxed.

"Bad experiences with it?" he asked, a bit curious.

"I gave it to someone I considered a friend. He proceeded to betray me and leave me to suffer for helping him by myself."

The Naruto clone closed his eyes for a bit.

"Do you have pen and paper with you?"

"I do," said one of the hunters. The Naruto clone proceeded to thank her write a message to the original.

"Temie, could you send it with the Plesioth to boss for me?"

The hunters' eyes widened at hearing the nickname… but not as much as when they heard her response.

"Sure Doodle, but why?"

She wasn't angry, she wasn't even annoyed!

"Well… Percy got this sword as a gift from his father, from what Chiron said, but I doubt he would like it as much if he found out about its past… but he deserves to know.  
So boss will ask The Man to make him some other weapons with the Plesioth he could use too. Think the children of Hephaestus on the camp would have a problem laminating the weapon with Celestial Bronze?"

Zoë couldn't help but nod in thanks. She disliked the sword, but that wouldn't be a good enough reason to ask the son of Poseidon not to use a sword powered by the ocean. But, if he stopped using it by himself due to having a better weapon…

"Well, I better dispel for now. Doubt the boss will take too long to arrive, and the others must have already found the entrance to the Underworld by now. Bye Temie, bye girls!"

With a wave of his hand, the clone dispelled himself.

"'Temie'?" Zoë asks.

"Yeah, Doodle and Temie is what a friend we have decided to call us. I'm not even sure how we found out her name, after a while in the group it is hard to remember that they even have one."

"But… isn't it a bit disrespectful?"

"Well, it isn't respectiful, but she has no idea I am a goddess, and I consider her a friend. It's not like I demand you girls to always call me Lady Artemis, you call me that because you want to. Same deal with her and Naruto, they just call me Temie instead.

Well, let's go. We have to check if that was the only monster around… and hopefully find out how it got here of all places."

As Artemis left, the hunters looked at each other. Was that a permission to call her something else if they wanted?

IIIII

Naruto finally arrived to LA, and began searching for this DOA Recording Studio place.

It would be a weird view for anyone that could see them, dozens of people getting out of a car, even if a big one.

The problem was that Los Angeles is a big city, and thus Naruto had a lot to cover. So he did what he did in Las Vegas, and went somewhere he could pay to search the internet.

Seriously, this internet was pretty useful. He wondered for a bit why demigods didn't use it more.

…so he researched it.

Apparently, ever since a daughter of Hecate called Lamia cursed all demigods to attract monsters, the stronger the divine blood the stronger the scent it releases, and the more monsters are attracted to them. But communication devices increase the scent of their divine blood, be it just a phone or the internet.

Then it advised, in ancient greek, that if the reader was a curious demigod, they should run away.

 _Now!_

Naruto started sweating. Why wasn't he attacked before? Was it because he was technically just a third divine instead of half, or because he was in the Lotus Hotel? If the later, he better leave soon…

But he had a mission, and so he researched DOA Recording Studio before leaving.

Paying to print the map, he exited the store just to face some Hellhounds. Half a dozen of them.

Made sense to him, he was in the town of the Underworld.

Now, Hellhounds are deadly. Add to it their number advantage, and most demigods would be in grave danger unless they got some help _**soon**_.

Luckily, Naruto has been trained as a ninja for years. And as a Monster Hunter for some months, which considering that they dealt with monster much bigger than humans at a regular basis made him pretty trained in monster extermination. So, _one_ Hellhound would not be that much of a deal.

But most important, among his ninja training was the Kage Bunshin. A Technique that lets him multiply himself.

Meaning that Naruto just made a dozen clones, two for each Hellhound just for guarantee, and went to his car, letting them take care of the hellish dogs.

Still, he learned something new now. And that was important.

IIIII

The place had gold letters in black marble, claiming it _was_ the DOA Recording Studios. So Naruto entered with no worries.

The most important part of infiltration is not getting inside or hiding, but not bringing attention to the fact you are there to the point people do not suspect you are not supposed to be there.

So, he entered.

In there, Percy was talking with the guard together with Annabeth and Grover. But the place was full.

Naruto shrugged, and passed between them… and noticed something weird. The more he focused in one of them, they seemed to become transparent.

It was almost like… they were…

The four – that is the guard, the two demigods and the satyr – were soon interrupted in their discussion by the sound of a terrified scream. Looking that way, they could see Naruto trying to punch everyone that was close to him, just to have his fists pass right through them and become much more terrified.

That made them sigh. It was hard to stay angry at someone that was that terrified.

The three campers had a sinking feeling that Naruto would not be that useful a companion from now one…

IIIII

 _Jiraiya was on the ground, one eye shut due to a punch to it and the face bleeding from a big scratch from Ace from some time ago._

 _And worse was, Naruto did not even summon anything, or use the fox's chakra. He just_ broke the fall _and climbed upwards again with Ace._

 _He understood why the boy was angry even after he explained himself. Really, he would be worried if he wasn't. But the fact it put the boy at risk yet had been useless for what he wanted to do stung more than the physical damage._

" _Alright, now that we established what I did was stupid… and sorta useless…"_

" _Not that much, I'm sure my minion will get much use of the lesson I gave him!"_

 _Jiraiya ignored the cat._

" _I guess I should give you something to make up to you. Any ideas?"_

 _Naruto thought for a bit._

" _Well, you are seal master, right? You know how I can't use chakra on the Hunting Grounds? Is there a seal to counter this?"_

" _Hmm…" Jiraiya was curious now. "I can't say without researching while there… But in the short time I was there it wasn't like we couldn't use chakra, but more like the world rejected it. Like we were all the time under the influence of the Hyugas' Gentle Fist blocking our chakra. So, I'm not sure I can let you use chakra there…"_

 _Naruto nodded, understanding._

"But _… If I am right, there is a way to activate_ seals _while there.  
You see, chakra is controlled by the pathway system… but it is not _originated _in it. It comes from every cell of the body… including the blood. In fat, specially in the blood. Fresh blood is as good as your chakra in some cases, and even blood from some time ago can be used to convert someone else's chakra in yours. It is why blood-based seals are not that reliable."_

" _Is that why we have to use it to summon?" Naruto asked, more to himself. "We are basically using our blood to tell it is us using the contract."_

 _Then his eyes widened._

" _And if we can use seals with fresh blood instead of chakra—"_

" _Exactly. You will be able to use seals without chakra while there."_

" _Can you teach me? Please?" Naruto asked, jumping on his feet._

" _Minion, he just threw you down a ravine to teach you!"_

 _Jiraiya was a bit disappointed, but he had to do it…_

" _No, not yet. Now, before you complain, there are seals and then there are_ seals _. Seal-making is a powerful yet neglected art, but it is dangerous if not made properly. Blood-based seals are no good in the hands of a beginner, and you will be one for a while so no use trying to learn before you finish your exam. Even so, what I plan to give you is a high-level one, a multiple seals scroll with unlimited use blood based storage seals. Those are_ hard _to make."_

" _Not that I don't appreciate it, but why multiple seals? Doesn't one already hold a lot?"_

" _A lot, yes," Jiraiya agreed, "but there is no way to choose what to unseal, good if you seal a lot of explosive tags or kunais but not so much if you want explosive tags_ and _kunais. And they have a capacity limit… well, if you want them to be of unlimited use. One-use seals get a bit of a leeway in the capacity front."_

 _Naruto nodded. That made sense._

" _Well, summoning was a bust. Guess we will have to train you in using well what you already got then. Pity, besides the use of the fox chakra to boost you summoning could be of great help if used properly…"_

 _Naruto nodded. The exam was just around the corner. He had a plan to deal with Neji, but the better he got before then… well, the better._

IIIII

 **I blame the readers who blamed me for now not being able to write Ace without thinking Claptrap.**

 **Let me be honest, it was hard not to quote Chrono Cross while abridging the Nereid meeting.  
(By the way, the game is not as bad as people claim, in my opinion. Yes, it is worse than Chrono Trigger, and the attempts to merge the games make Trigger much more depressing and Cross lose some of its sense, and worse, so many characters, so little development for most of them, but it does stand out on its own in the other places. Specially the beauty, visual and musical)**

 **And to be honest, the initial plan was for Percy to fight the Plesioth by himself… then I found out that in the games it appears as an actual enemy it is High Level (the only game I actually played more than the intro is 4Ultimate, my travel through Tri was short. And in 4 it is not an enemy, just a harder to catch fish in the fishing minigame. Its desert counterpart, on the other hand, is still in 4).  
Naruto has more experience, and isn't up to fighting High Level monsters yet. Percy still doesn't have much control of the water, so his main advantage over Naruto doesn't work much either.  
So unfortunately I had to rescue Percy.  
But meh, the Plesioth fulfilled its mission.**


	9. Flashback: The more things change

**I'd like to reply to Axcel, a guest reviewer. He pointed out that in actual mythology, in most sources at least, the god of wilderness is Pan, not Artemis. However, this being based in the Percy Jackson series, wilderness** _ **is**_ **among her domains here. Pan in the series, or at least to my understanding, is less wilderness and more** _ **nature itself as a whole**_ **(wilderness included)…  
Also… it is not rare for some people to share domains, even in the same pantheon. Artemis for example is not the only goddess of childbirth in the greek pantheon, and despite Selene not being considered a goddess of the moon anymore she still shares it with Hecate. Athena and Ares are both gods of war, something that was a point in this story by the way. And no matter if you consider the god of wilderness Artemis or Pan, Demeter has more control over the flora.**

 **Now… I need to make an apology about this very chapter.**

 **This was supposed to be a chapter with a flashback in the beginning. But the flashback got longer and longer, and when I noticed it was bigger than some of the chapters before it, counting their flashbacks.**

 **So, hope no one minds the flashback being the whole chapter.**

 **I have no idea** _ **how**_ **the Insect Glaive works besides "videogame physics", most of the info on the Monster Hunter world is Japan-exclusive and… most fans outside there apparently do not care much about the details… In fact, most of what I found takes the same info as creator-confirmed fact in one place and fan-theory in another. So, things like Dragon Element affecting the target's mind, Hunters being supersoldiers due to eating monster meat and monsters being evolutions of bioengineered weapons from an ancient species that was in war with humanity… take with a grain of salt outside this fic. But they will be assumed true here.  
Anyway, about the Insect Glaive… I found no explanation on how it works, so I created myself the theory of it being pneumatic. Yes, the lance can also pole vault, but the glaives actually have two modes, or at least some of them: a smaller, "sheathed" mode and a bigger used when attacking. So it has some mechanical process to do this, and, in my head, it is also used to give an extra power to the pole vault… Sorry if you disagree.**

 **Oh, and the Hunter in MH games is left-handed as far as was observed, so since Naruto is right-handed I inverted how he holds the glaive. Yes, the hunter holds it in the dominant hand and only uses the other when making attacks. I don't get it, personally, but I'm no specialist in using a glaive.**

 **One last thing… I still only got one vote for what to do with the Naruto and Artemis' initial hunting trip. It was for it being shown in flashbacks. I would really appreciate if you guys could vote in your reviews: flashbacks or a separate story?  
You have until the end of the already-planned flashbacks to voice your opinion, so a few chapters yet. Still…**

IIIII

" _You got anything to say to me?" Neji asked with a smirk._

"… _Nah, not really. I said all I had to in the plemininaries. But I bet you got something to say to_ me _, and judging from your fight with Hinata you won't shut up until you say it," Naruto answers, playing around with the staff-like weapon on his back._

 _Neji gave it a disinterested look, clearly not thinking it will do much difference in the long run._

 _But the look in Naruto's eyes draw his attention, turning his Byakugan on instinctively. That look was much more confident and calm than the last time they met. That was a look of someone that really believed in his words._

" _So much better for me," the older boy says, getting into his stance. "I can't wait to see the look of despair in your face when you learn that your foolish vow is impossible to keep."_

 _Naruto yawns._

 _Everyone looks at this with wide eyes._

" _Was that supposed to phase me? I'm sorry, you'll have to do better than that. It will take more than an amateur speech from a fate-obsessed, reality-hindered person that thinks that_ class grades _command your entire future in the real battlefield to phase me."_

" _Class grades?" Neji says, smirk back in place, "Is that what you think I judge people for?"_

" _Oh, no. You judge them by their initial impression. Class grades are just the way you judged me and Lee, and you believe Hinata is a failure just because she isn't as good as someone older and more trained and experienced.  
News flash, this is not how it works in the real world."_

" _Don't you_ dare _lecture me about the real world!" the older boy replies, anger clear in his features._

 _Naruto answers by yawning again while spinning his staff above his head… just before entering a stance with it, and a blade appearing from the front of it._

" _You are right. Why talk to you when I can_ show _you?"_

 _The proctor nods, raising his hand. "Very well. Now let the first match… begin!"_

 _Neji stood his ground, waiting for Naruto's first attack._

 _Naruto, on his side of the battle, jumped backwards, making the Kage Bunshin handsign. Smoke covered him and six Narutos exited the smoke cloud._

 _Neji's eyes traveled between the Narutos, trying to discern the original. Their chakra pathways held the same intensity. As far as he could see there was no difference between the six._

 _Yet… the younger boy did not make any other move. That did not fit the personality he had in the preliminaries. What was he waiting for?_

 _Then one of the Narutos finally ran out of patience and attacked. He threw some kunais at the Hyuga, who effortlessly caught one and used it to deflect the others, catching one of them in the ring of the kunai's pummel even._

 _As if expecting him to be distracted, the clone advanced, wielding the glaive-like weapon… poorly. Judging by the way he was trying to jump on him and stab with it, he had no real idea how to use the weapon. He_ just knew _that his teammate was fuming in the audience at the genin's poor performance._

 _He effortlessly evaded the attack, and went to take advantage of the big opening that it gave… when the Naruto_ twisted _, the glaive moving in an experienced upward arc that almost cut his chest. As it was, it did give a small cut to his shirt due to his surprise at the boy's sudden competence._

 _The boy did not leave it at that, though, twisting his arm over his head in a circle, letting the glaive attack again. This time Neji evaded the attack unharmed, yet was forced to twist out of the way of the_ second _Naruto falling on his with his glaive from behind, this one an actual proper glaive downward slice._

 _The first Naruto returned to his stance and tried giving him a series of stabs, but Neji was faster, parrying the stabs using his chakra-covered palms. The second Naruto repeating the movement on his back forced him to jump to the side, however._

 _But he still considered himself in the advantage. While the Narutos were still adjusting their stances to attack him, he went forward, out of the reach of the glaive's blade, and pushed the weapon to the side forcefully, opening that Naruto's guard enough to hit it… or so he thought, as the Naruto promptly rolled to the side to avoid the attack. Neji was forced to roll himself to avoid the upward strike of the other one. But at least they were at an angle instead of outright flanking him._

 _He kicked the glaive to the side, leaving that Naruto open, and advanced on him. Before the blond could roll away again, or even try to use the glaive to block the attack, the older boy was in front of him, striking him with his fingers in the chakra points near his lungs. Not even pausing as that Naruto dispelled, he avoided the other one's attack too, holding the glaive by the shaft and pulling it, and the Naruto, right on a strike to the neck._

 _The two Narutos dispelled, he turned back to the other four Narutos, a confident smirk on his face._

" _If you wanted to have any chance to win, you should have come to me all at once. Now that I got how you fight, it will be easier for me to avoid your strikes."_

" _Didn't want to," one of the Naruto shrugged as he stepped forward, making Neji's smirk slip with his nonchalance. "I mean, just as you figured out how I fight I figured out how you do too, why risk it fighting head-on all-out when I can see what you can do first?"_

" _Yeah, also we are not just to win, but to show our skills to the judges… would be hard to if we went all out from the start," said a second Naruto, also stepping forward._

" _Yet you attack in two once more."_

" _You yourself pointed out our numeric advantage_ is _an advantage. While we want to prolong this to show off, not taking it would be stupid and hurt our cause."_

 _Neji's eyebrow rose._

" _I thought your 'cause' was to punish me for how I treated Hinata-sama."_

" _Two birds, one stone," a third Naruto shrugged._

 _The fourth Naruto tilted his head at the twitch on Neji's eyes._

" _It does no difference anyway. Come with all you've got or stall for time, Fate will give me the victory."_

" _Keep believing in Fate if you want. Talent and training will give me mine," the third said._

 _Neji stood silent for a moment… then gave a cruel smirk. "Talent?" he asked, "Not just training and heart like my teammate claimed? Oh, that is hilarious, that buffoon was hoping you would prove a point for him."_

" _And when did I say I wasn't?" the third Naruto continued, "I just said talent is needed, not that it is what defines us, unlike you. Well, of course if you are hired for a stealth job you won't summon a berserker, but that is field of usability, not field of worth. Lee himself sees where his talent really lies, thus he trains his all on it until he masters the talent. …I personally think he could train a bit in the areas he is not as talented, but that is his choice.  
You, on the other hand, define people's worth not from their talent, but from their initial state, as if things were unchanging regardless of effort put. Which is stupid. Talent may show itself in someone as young or as old, and no matter how talented someone is it matters not if it is squandered. Someone who is a genius in an area could lose in that same area for someone who is just mediocre but worked twice as hard."_

 _That got some silence between them, broke only by Lee's "Go Naruto-kun!" from the stands._

" _I see. That is… a reasonable philosophy. …Or maybe just an_ actual _explanation of Lee and Gai-sensei's. I cannot deny that._

 _But for everything we do, there is a limit. Even for the most talented there is a border decreed by Fate of how much they can grow, and the most talented ones can reach further potential from even the most hard-working ones._ That _is what it means to be chosen by Fate."_

" _Oh, I disagree there. You see, training is not so much reaching your limits but it is_ breaking _them. Just like a bone gets stronger when it recovers from a break, when you train you set your limits higher, so when you use your skills you can use them better because the old limit is not there, but to become better they have a_ new _limit to break."_

" _I can see that. But still there is an upper limit that cannot be broken anymore, and natural talent is the one that chooses it," Neji pointed out. "Thus no matter how hard you try, you cannot get past what Fate chose you to be."_

" _I do not believe so. I believe that there is just a point the work needed gets so high most are not willing to work hard enough to see that limit break. Natural talent tells you how hard to break the next limit is, the more talented you are the easier it is to break the limit, but it only makes it easier, it does not cap your abilities."_

 _Neji thought for a bit._

" _That is a valid philosophy. Not one I agree, but not one I can dismiss. We do not have a proof to work with either way. Regardless—"_

" _I actually have proof. Hokage-sama."_

" _Oh?" Neji said, curious._

 _Sarutobi was also curious. But less with the talk and more that_ Naruto _called him Hokage-sama._

" _Yes, from what I heard he can use all of the five main elements equally well, from his inate one to the one opposite it. If natural talent was a cap, he would reach it to one of them before the others, but he trained all five."_

" _That_ is _a compelling argument," Neji agreed. "But I have a counte: bloodline limits that mix chakra natures to create a mixed release. No matter how much training you have, you cannot recreate those."_

" _But those are genetic. It's like your Byakugan, or my blue eyes. Natural talent does not say if you can use it, only how well you can use it."_

" _Yet none of the Shodai Hokage's decendants could use it. At all."_

" _Aham," called a voice from a balcony. The Hokage's voice. "While we can appreciate your discussion, believe me it would be a delight to take part in it in another environment, we are currently at a battle assessment."_

" _We are sorry, Hokage-sama. Our battle banter evolved into an actual discussion without our notice," Neji apologized to the Hokage and the crowd._

" _Yeah, my bad…"_

 _Neji and the two Narutos that advanced took their stances, and the two attacked, repeating the actions of the clones before then._

 _And Neji got a cut on his chest._

" _What?" he cried in surprise more than pain, leaving himself open to take a hit in the face from the butt of the other Naruto's glaive._

 _Now that he was already hit, he could notice that despite using the same basic moves the two Narutos were moving much faster. He was still being able to parry the attacks, but it was a much closer call._

" _The basics of taijutsu," the Naruto who was talking before explained, "is that we learn the technique and make it stronger and faster by adding chakra to reinforce our bodies. So, what if we train as much as we can in the technique_ then _add chakra to make ourselves stronger and faster?"_

 _Neji's eye widened._

" _You weren't using chakra to reinforce your limbs before now! I was so used to Lee I did not even notice…"_

 _The Naruto just smirked._

 _Then Neji snorted. He grabbed the two glaives in the pole just bellow the blade and pulled them, the glaives flying away from the hands of the surprised Narutos._

" _Do not think that just because you tricked me you will win the match. You may have got a lucky hit with the deceit but that's what it was,_ one _hit."_

" _Actually they were two."_

"… _My point stands."_

" _Yes, but you_ took _those two hits," the Naruto pushed. "If it was enough to work once, what's stopping it from working again?"_

 _As an answer, Neji twisted his body, evading the attacks from the unarmed clones at his back and hitting them in the chest, the pushed chakra breaking their consistency and dispelling them._

" _The sad thing is that it would have worked if you hadn't warned me that they can get even faster."_

" _Oh, I wasn't talking about_ that _, I meant trickery in general."_

 _The other remaining Naruto then ran to behind Neji, a crude canister made of carved rock and glued with sap in his hand. A canister he threw at him._

 _But it was not being hit that worried Neji._

 _It was that the Naruto in front of him closed his eyes._

 _As expected, the canister broke open when it hit the ground, releasing a flash of light. Luckily for him, Neji had already deactivated his dojutsu, so he only saw it from the corner of his eye._

 _The Naruto in front of him gave him no respite, attacking with his glaive as soon as the flash was released. Neji, who focused on his taijutsu, had to focus on parrying and evading until he got an opening to re-activate the Byakugan. Opening that the Naruto, who was going faster than ever, was doing his best not to let him have._

" _You see," the Naruto said between attacks, "people may make fun of how I passed the prelims, but I've been thinking about it while training… I won with a fart in my opponent's face, but the only bad thing about it is that it was uncontrolled. Really, if I had released it on purpose people would be impressed I turned Kiba's strength, his sense of smell, in a weakness._

 _So, how to do the same for you? How to turn your dojutsu in a weakness? Well, there was no way to put you in the dark, so I went the other way around. As much as it is strong, the Byakugan is still an eye. So a bright enough light would either blind you for a while, or create a blind spot in front of where I threw it. Either way I can use it to win."_

" _Yet your clone is not taking advantage of me deactivating the eyes."_

" _Of course I am! I am distracting you!"_

 _Neji's eyes widened. "You're the clone?"_

 _The older boy instinctively jumped above the next attack, avoiding the attack of one of the two other Narutos that attacked him from behind._

" _Of course he is," answered one of them._

" _You didn't really think the real one would do all the talking and be an open target for no reason, did you?" said the other, this one with another carved rock canister in his hand._

 _Further away, sixteen other Narutos started circling the four, as if preparing for any attempt of escaping from Neji._

" _I must say, you are smarter than I expected."_

 _The older clone shrugged. "I've had to read a few book to survive this month of training. Information is important, after all. And trust me, I had to think_ a lot _on that info on the ball of my feet to survive some of that…" The three Narutos shuddered, as if trying to push away bad memories. "It feels pretty good at the time, but later you ask yourself what you were thinking. …And then when you notice you are doing it again."_

 _Then Naruto crossed his arms, a pensive expression on his face._

" _I think the only reason it is not addicting is that it is doing something dangerous, not taking something."_

" _Adrenaline," Neji corrected. "Something your brain produces when you are in danger or something exciting. It is what allow us to fight for our lives even when we are running on fumes, among other things."_

 _The Naruto nodded._

" _Anyway… Time for taking it up a notch, I think."_

 _He snapped his fingers, and as response the sixteen Narutos approached, glaives ready… then eight of them, intercalated, pushed their glaives in the_ ground _and pole-vaulted… And pressed a trigger in the shaft, launching themselves in the air._

 _While there, the eight Narutos spun the glaive, preparing themselves to attack Neji from above, while the other eight attacked straightforwardly. All timed so the attacks would reach their target as close to simultaneously as possible._

 _Neji smirked._

" _I agree."_

 _Then he_ spun _._

 _A cyclone of chakra was released from the older boy's body just as the Narutos were going to reach him. A visible sphere of spinning chakra was visible surrounding the Hyuga._

 _The Narutos, all nineteen of them, were thrown away by the strength of the chakra, some dispelling from the force of the chakra itself, others dispelling from the impact to the ground._

 _Smirking, Neji quickly activated his eyes again, finding the real Naruto, gaping, among the trees that made a small forest on the side of the arena._

" _I can see you," he said. "Why don't you save both of us the trouble and come back here to face me yourself?"_

 _Frowning, Naruto jumped, landing a safe distance in front of the other._

" _What was that?"_

 _Neji's smirk did not lezve his face._

" _This is what I spent the month training. The technique exclusive to the main branch of the Hyuga. The Kaiten, the impenetrable defense."_

 _Naruto said nothing. Instead, he released a new batch of clones, surrounding the other again._

" _Oh? You will take part yourself this time?"_

 _Naruto said nothing. Just advanced, together with the clones._

 _This time, he could see clearly how it was made._

 _At first, a shell of chakra, blocking his attack. The shell was thick, the chakra was visible in the point of impact.  
Then the smirking Neji rotated his body, launching the shell in its own rotation, even faster than the teen's.  
The shell then _exploded _, launching the chakra at high force._

 _Naruto stood up, having been thrown away by the Kaiten._

" _Do you see now? Now that I consider you a strong enough opponent to use the Kaiten against you, you must see that you never really had any hope of victory. As I said before, you are_ fated _to lose."_

 _As an answer, Naruto gave a smirk of his own._

" _Want me to just show you why that is bullshit, or want me to tell ya every weakness I found from your defense thing?"_

 _Neji just raised his eyebrow, as he walked calmly to his opponent. "You really want me to believe that you could find a weakness on my technique?"_

" _Rule number one of survival in the Hunting Grounds," Naruto said as a way of an answer, "Hit, don't be hit. Rule number two: learn your target's tells, attacks, openings and weaknesses, through observation or research. Rule number three: everything has a weakness, your weakness is just the clearer one. If you didn't find a weakness, you just didn't look for it enough yet."_

" _Your confidence is wrongly used, but admirable. Yet, there is another technique that will definitively defeat you. And while it_ has _a weakness, you are not in position to take advantage of it anymore. For you see…" At this point Neji assumed a weird stance Naruto never saw him use before._

" _You are in the field of my divination."_

 _Naruto looked at him seriously, the stance showed it would be something he didn't see before, but he was confused. "Divination?"_

" _As long as you are within range, you cannot use either Shunshin or Kawarimi to escape it before the technique disables your ability to use them… And I see no clones of yours to use it on you from outside the range."_

 _Naruto just glared at his opponent, putting as much chakra in his arms as he could to raise their speed._

" _Two palms!"_

 _Neji was right. He was not fast enough, and by the time he raised them he was already hit with two strikes to his torso. He tried, but his chakra was too erratic to do the Kawarimi._

" _Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms!"_

 _Naruto was launched back to the ground. His chakra… felt as if blocked, as if something wasn't allowing it to flow, to reinforce him._

 _Add to it the damage to his body, and it felt like he couldn't stand up, much less keep fighting._

 _The proctor approached the two, Neji with a satisfied smirk on his face and Naruto fallen on the ground panting._

" _Looks like it's over."_

" _Ugh… I feel like I've been trampled by a Kecha Wacha…" Naruto said, struggling to stand._

" _I have blocked the main 64 of your tenketsu. You are lucky to be able to breath," Neji said with a smirk._

 _His face then got serious._

" _It must be frustrating. After all your training, all your hard work thinking you could succeed. Yet now you can see you never had a chance."_

" _W-why do you say it?" Naruto stood up with difficulties, using his glaive to hold himself upright. "All you did was b-block my chakra and slap me around a bit. It hurts, but I've been through worse."_

" _And you talk like that wasn't enough? As if you could fight me without chakra, and in your state?"_

 _Naruto didn't answer. Instead, he took a metal flask from his jacket and drank it._

" _Haaah, that… I feel much better now."_

 _Neji's eyebrow rose._

" _You think that is enough? Even if you got some energy from that drink, you still need to defeat me without your chakra."_

" _The way you say it, you make it sounds like someone couldn't be a challenge without chakra."_

" _Hmph, of course—"_

" _Samurai."_

 _Neji closed his mouth._

 _Then raised his eyebrow._

" _Do you really think you are good enough to be compared to a samurai?"_

" _Well… no. But I am not fighting someone that can be compared to one even when using chakra either."_

 _Neji stiffened at that._

" _Yet you think you can be compared to_ me _, even without chakra?"_

" _Hehe… Hahahaha!" Naruto laughed. Not a mocking laughter, but a genuine one. That was what made it even more insulting._

" _Yeah, I do. Because seriously, I trained all this time against things more dangerous than you. All already without chakra.  
All you got over them right now is your smarts… and you are pretty dumb."_

" _How dare you!" Neji said angrily. "I may have not seen much in you at the beginning, but I am now treating you with respect. I have no quarrel with you. Yet you keep insulting and belittling my abilities for no reason!"_

"… _And that is why you are dumb. Did you forget?_ I _have a problem with you."_

 _Neji stopped, confusion clear in his eyes._

"… _Did you really forget? Did you really forget what you did to Hinata, your own cousin?"_

 _Neji's face turned impassive. 'Ah, so that's it.'_

" _Playing with her head with your mind games. It would be one thing if you fought and defeated her, but you did your best to break down all the confidence and dreams she had. And why? Just to make yourself feel better than her?"_

" _It does not concern you."_

" _The hell it doesn't! I don't care about your main house and branch family problems. She did not deserve to be treated like that! She looked up to you and yet all you did was push her down!"_

 _Neji looked at Naruto, eyes filled with rage._

" _Very well… Since you are so interested, I will tell you_ why _I hate her so much. The Hyuga clan's heritage of hatred."_

 _Naruto raised his hand._

" _Can I get something to eat while you tell me?"_

" _W-what?" Neji asked, confused._

" _Well, it must be one hell of a story, so I think I can at least eat something. Don't worry, I got a piece of meat with me. I was going to eat it between battles but…"_

 _Silence._

 _Even the crowd went silent._

 _Naruto pulling the meat out of his jacket and resting on the glaive as he looked at Neji did not really help._

" _Go on. I'm listening."_

 _Neji ignored his opponent's antics. He would tell his story. He would tell_ everyone _._

" _For generations the main house has been assuring the branch family's obedience through a cursed seal.  
This seal is a symbol of a bird locked in it's cage. It is the mark of those that are bound to a fate they cannot escape."_

 _Neji removed his headband, showing the mark on his forehead to the world._

 _Naruto looked, biting his piece of meat. It was two horizontal lines, one on each side, with a manji in the middle. The lines become hooks in their point nearer the manji._

" _I was four years old when the leaders of my clan branded this symbol on my forehead. That very same day was a day of celebration for Konoha, for after years of war a peace agreement had been reached with the Land of Lightning, and they sent an emissary from Kumo to sign the treaty. Everyone was there to celebrate… save for one clan."_

" _Let me guess," Naruto interrupted, "yours?"_

 _Neji ignored him._

" _For that was the day that the heir to the main house would turn three. It was Lady Hinata's third birthday."_

"… _I got it the first time, you know. You didn't need to repeat it."_

" _I am trying to set a mood here!" Neji said angrily._

" _Sorry. But this is not very good storytelling unless you are trying to say that the number three is important here. Is it?"_

 _Neji just glared. 'Everyone is a critic…'_

" _Her father, Lord Hyuga Hiashi, and my father, Hizashi, are twin brothers."_

" _Is your father not allowed to be called Hyuga?"_

" _W-what? Where did you get that from?"_

" _Well, you emphasized the Hyuga in your uncle's name, but not in your father's—"_

" _It is because Lord Hiashi is the leader of the clan. It was to emphasize their difference in status.  
Lord Hiashi and my father are twin brothers. Yet, Lord Hiashi entered the world first, so _he _is the head of the family. While my father was banished to a lesser branch of the family."_

" _Unless something happens to your uncle. Then_ he _becomes the head."_

 _Neji blinked._

" _My father would never be able to become the head. Due to being born a twin, he was fated to the branch family from birth. For a second in the line of succession, it has to be born at a separate birth. That is the way of the Hyuga."_

 _Naruto made a face that clearly showed he thought that was stupid. Neji once would have agreed, but he learned that it is useless to think so._

" _It was then, when the main house heir turned three, that I was branded the curse mark and became a bird in a cage. By my own uncle."_

" _Ah, so that's why the emphasis on the three."_

 _Neji ignored him._

" _Sorry to say, but your clan is kind of crazy. I mean, I guess many clains must have something like a main house where the leaders come from, but to_ brand _those not from it?"_

" _It is not just for decoration. It is also the instrument by which they keep us in our place. We live in fear that they will use this curse mark to turn our brains into jelly at any moment they wish to. Fear… that is how they keep us in line. And we live with this fear every day. Only in death are we free of it._

This _is how the power of the Byakugan is kept sealed away."_

"… _Wait, you are kept in fear… to protect your eyes?"_

" _Yes. In our death the seal activates at full power, destroying our eyes and our knowledge of how to use them._

 _That is why we exist. It is the mission of the branch family to protect the secrets of the Byakugan, and to protect the main house, obediently and without question, for eternity. That is our destiny…_

 _Or was, until that fateful night."_

" _Wait, is it still the same night you were branded, or…"_

" _No, but it is close to then."_

" _Because you didn't say anything that would make me think so, you know…"_

" _Yes, yes, but that day is linked to this night._

 _The night that sealed my father's fate… to death."_

 _Naruto paid attention. It seemed like the story was finally getting out of the exposition._

" _That night, someone invaded the main household and abducted Lady Hinata. Lord Hiashi quickly caught and killed the man… And who was this intruder? Stealing through the shadows in the dead of night, wearing a mask over his face? It was none other than the man sent by Kumo for the peace negotiations. The man that had just signed an alliance with us."_

" _So… that broke the alliance and Kumo was punished?"_

" _It_ would _have been fair… but there were no witnesses to prove that the man abducted Lady Hinata. Kumo claimed that_ Konoha _was in violation of the treaty, and demanded recompense…  
The way things were going, it would lead to war. Konoha did all they could to avoid the war… so after some time, they made a deal._

 _Kumo demanded a life for a life. The body of the man who killed their shinobi._

 _It was clear that the kidnapping of Lady Hinata was an attempt to acquire the Byakugan, and through Lord Hiashi's body they planned to do the same._

 _Still… Konoha accepted their terms. It was preferable for the village to lose the Byakugan than to enter war._

 _And so, to avoid war, a man was killed… but not Hiashi. My father, his twin brother, was killed in his place in order to protect the main household. My father could only find his freedom in death._

 _They were alike, twin brothers. Yet their fate was determined when they were born a few seconds from each other…_

 _Their fate was determined… just like this battle. Your destiny was decided as soon as I was drawn as your opponent."_

 _Silence filled the arena once more._

" _Don't say that Neji! Believe in yourself! You still have a chance to defeat me!"_

 _Neji blinked, confused._

 _The proctor chocked on his laughter._

"… _So… the birthday being the same day was a coincidence?"_

" _Yes, but it is the night when I was branded."_

" _But telling us the day besides being the day of the trade did not add much to the story itself."_

"… _It was an important day to me. Let me have that."_

 _Naruto sighed. "Ok…_

 _Well, that was a pretty sad story… Your father being killed a long time ago because he was the perfect body double to his brother, that is pretty sad and must hurt you a lot still. I can understand that_

 _It does not explain why you were an asshole to Hinata though.  
I mean, are you trying to say that she should have been able to protect herself from a fully-trained ninja at the age of three? You are a year older, would you have been able to protect yourself at the time?"_

 _Neji gapped._

" _I think that you are just using her to push your anger in someone else."_

" _You will never understand…" Neji said… and_ charger _._

 _He went for a palm strike right in the center of the chakra-less and tired Naruto—_

 _Just for his target to roll out of the way of his attack, spinning the glaive and hitting him on the side with its shaft._

 _The stunned Neji only_ looked _at the still chakra-less but completely rested Naruto for a while, while the younger boy spun the glaive in his hand and entered his stance._

 _A new stance, holding the glaive with just one hand – yet seemed to hold it as well and mobile, if not more, than the previous one._

" _Wha—How are you moving so fast? You were barely standing not that long ago! Now you are moving even faster than when the battle began!"_

" _Oh, you know, some medicine, a meal and some time to rest does wonders to your stamina."_

 _Neji's eyes widened._

" _You were not eating to listen to my story! You were eating to help you recover! And all those interruptions, they were just stalling me!"_

" _Yup. But I did listen, if it makes you feel any better."_

" _It doesn't."_

" _Tough."_

" _I wasted my breath on you. You will never understand how it is to have Fate stand on your way until I shove it in your face. You will never understand what it is like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart, a mark that can never be wiped away!"_

 _All traces of humor left Naruto's face._

 _Neji felt a shiver in his back._

" _Oh, really, Hyuga Neji, member of the Hyuga branch family, where_ each and every one _shares your so-called brand and treat you as equal, and where outsiders either do not know or do not care? You are telling_ me of all people _that I do not know how it feels to be marked as different from everyone else?_

 _Ignorance is a blessing, as they say."_

" _Ig-ignorance?"_

" _The difference between us, Hyuga Neji, is not that you were marked at four while I was marked at birth. It is not that you have a whole branch of your clan to support you while I am an orphan with just a handful of people willing to support me while everyone else looked at me with scorn._

 _The difference between us is that while you decided to drown in your misery I decided to learn to swim out and build a bridge to get over it!_

 _And I'll show you what I really am made of. I will show everyone!_

 _This is where the battle really starts!"_

 _Neji was confused. He was sure he had the moral superiority here, but for some reason he_ knew _his opponent was not lying about having being dealt a worse hand by Fate than him._

 _Nevertheless._

 _He advanced, prepared to finish his opponent. His hand advanced to hit him in the shoulder of his dominant hand, or at least the one holding the glaive – as even if he would fight without chakra the Juken could damage the muscles themselves, leaving him unable to use it._

 _Naruto twisted out of the way, predictable to Neji since his move was pretty telegraphed in his personal criticism. No matter, he kept the momentum going.  
What he didn't expect was for the blond to twist enough to also avoid the following backwards elbow strike and instead take advantage of his own move to strengthen the move of his own weapon, which hit Neji's knee painfully._

 _The long-haired boy jumped back, more confused than in pain._

" _You were not that fast in the beginning of the battle when you weren't using chakra. How did you get faster?"_

" _It's not that I got faster, just that I wasn't fighting seriously yet," Naruto shrugged. "That stance may be more 'professional', but this one is the one I use on the field and the one that was fit for me."_

 _Neji frowned. That meant that until now his opponent was_ not _fighting with his true skills… He wasn't very worried about his victory, after all he was fighting the worst of his class while the boy was unable to use chakra. But said boy had knowledge of his fighting style, while Neji just found out he had none about his opponent's. He would usually doubt such a short time would be enough to turn him into a danger, but he already proved himself more of a nuisance than expected._

 _The blond attacked, pulling the glaive downwards with his left hand while holding it steady with his right one. Neji avoided the attack easily, and the blade embedded itself in the ground.  
It seemed like he had worried for nothing. The blond was able to move faster and apparently swing harder in this stance, but it was no big difference—_

 _Then he heard the sound of air pressure being released at high speeds, and Naruto was_ launched _in a spin backwards. Neji was able to avoid being cut, but his hitai-ate was thrown from his head by the blade._

 _Eyes narrowed, Neji advanced as Naruto took a second rock recipient from his jacket. Already having an idea of what it had, Neji slapped his hand away, dropping the supposed flash bomb, not giving it enough force to open and release its effect._

 _Naruto evaded the attacks, rolling around and contorting himself. But it was not enough. He was forced to use his glaive and arms to block the attacks. Even if he wasn't using chakra, the Juken can also affect the insides of the body, Neji was confident his arms must be hurting a lot from the hits they took to the muscles. He would not last long._

 _Naruto's eyes narrowed, and he finally attacked again. Neji smirked. He would not fall for the glaive's mechanism again, but until it activated the user would be left vulnerable._

 _He jumped backwards, observing the movements of his opponent._

 _The opponent that foolishly closed his eyes as the glaive missed him—_

 _The next thing Neji saw was white._

" _Gah!"_

 _In his surprise, Neji focused too much in his overwhelmed vision. Before he was recovered enough to avoid it he felt something hit his left knee,_ hard _, throwing him to the ground on it, aggravating the pain. He doubted it was able to break it, but it was at the very least dislocated._

" _Kaiten neutered, I think," he heard the voice of his blond opponent. "And unless you have something to give you a better reach, since this will really slow you down I think your_ whole _fighting style is suffering too."_

 _This time Neji was able to hear the "woosh" of the blunt side of the glaive cutting the air and jumped backwards… only to cry in pain as his left foot got some of his weight on it._

" _What… how…"_

" _You focus on speed and precision. I used a flash bomb to cut your precision a bit, since it takes some time for the eye to recover, and while you were distracted I cut as much of your speed I could without actually trying to cut the leg off. It would be better for me if I used the blade, but as much as I am angry at you I don't think you deserve it."_

" _But I was looking at your hands… you held no flash bomb…"_

" _Yup. I_ held _none. But one good hit opens one, like one you 'made me' drop and forgot about."_

 _Neji gritted his teeth._

" _This changes nothing."_

" _It doesn't?" Naruto asked, in fake confusion. "But you need me in arms reach to use your slaps, while I have a middle-range weapon. And you need to turn your body at high speed to use your Kaiten. I know I'm not the best in anatomy, but I'm pretty sure your leg is not working as well as before…"_

 _Neji said nothing, just advanced to attack, trying his best to ignore the pain in his leg._

 _Naruto evaded the attack, not effortlessly, but unharmed._

" _See?" Naruto pointed out. "Your arm speed may be the same, but without your leg at a hundred percent you can't reach me as fast, your stance is not right… your style is strong, but it is not maleo… malleb… it doesn't go as well when you are not in top shape."_

" _And yours is?"_

 _Naruto ignored the question._

 _Instead he attacked Neji's injured knee._

 _The older boy tried jumping back, but couldn't get enough distance with only one leg working properly._

 _Naruto just looked as the older boy as he released a low hiss of pain._

" _You know, for a genius you made a lot of mistakes."_

 _Neji's eyes narrowed. "And I suppose you are going to tell me these supposed mistakes?"_

" _I must," Naruto nodded. "After all, it is what you would have done."_

 _Neji opened his mouth… then closed it._

" _Actually I would have just lectured you about how you are fated to lose to me."_

 _Naruto's eyebrow rose. "Are?"_

" _The battle isn't over yet."_

" _Point," Naruto nodded. "But… Let's be honest here. You came here thinking I was weak and would give up easily, and if I didn't you'd be able to knock me out fast.  
Underestimating me was your first mistake. _Everyone _knows I'm a stubborn bastard. After all I failed the academy exam three times, but kept going until I became a ninja. And my worst techniques were Henge and Bunshin, and I turned the Henge into a joke, and I mean a literal joke, I turn into a naked woman I made up, something I heard is supposed to be hard since I don't have a base, just to laugh at people perving on what is actually a man. The Bunshin I never really got, but I kept trying until I learned the Kage Bunshin which… is much better. So, that's it for me giving up.  
Then you went for the attack head-on, thinking I would fall easy even when I made a bunch of clones… ok, I have to give you a point there, for a prankster at the academy I started just spamming clones as if they would give me the victory after learning them, kind of a step back… but you never thought that in this month training I had got my head back together?_

 _Seriously, you are lucky it was me who is beating the crap out of you, in the field this kind of thing would get you killed_ fast _."_

 _Neji had to give him a point there. He underestimated him, and paid for it._

 _He_ was _better as a fighter. He was faster, stronger, more precise._

 _But that is not all that matters in a ninja battle._

 _He had been not outbattled, but out_ smarted _._

"… _Why?"_

 _Neji dropped his stance, looking seriously at his opponent._

" _Why do you keep fighting? Why do you keep trying? After everything that pushed you down, why do you keep moving forward?"_

" _Because they called me a failure. I thought they were wrong, and did my best to prove it to them… and to myself.  
I don't care if I am pushed down, I just try to make myself fall forward. That way, as long as I keep trying to keep going, even if I have to crawl, I am still going the way I want."_

" _Even if that means defying fate itself?"_

" _I don't believe anything is set in stone. And even if it was… Stones can be broken if you hit it hard enough, or even softly if for long enough."_

 _Neji took a deep breath._

" _Proctor. I give up. My opponent's strategy cut out my ability both for offense and defense. As he said, even if all this did was give us an equal playing field his weapon gives him more reach, allowing him to attack me without me being able to retaliate properly."_

 _As soon as the proctor announced the victory, Naruto noticed the crowd going wild. He wanted to bask in it, it was what he wanted for so long… but he has something he still had to do._

 _He approached Neji as he hobbled to leave the arena._

" _Neji, wait! We are not done."_

 _The older boy looked at him, confused._

" _I admitted defeat. If it is about Lady Hinata, I will do my best to make up to her."_

" _Oh, that's good, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, I called that your_ first _mistake… You see, your second was showing me your Kaiten a second time and not making a surprise of it like you did the first time, not only wasting one of your aces but also letting me probe it for weaknesses. I found a few, I have no idea of how to take advantage of some of them but they are there. I know it must give you a bonus with the judges, but I suggest you use it only in emergencies next time. Pretend you don't know it unless you_ really _need it."_

" _Thank you. I will take it into consideration. The impact of it will be lost from now on anyway."_

 _The older boy turned to leave, only for Naruto to put his arm over his own shoulder and help him walk._

" _There is one more thing from letting others see it too much…"_

 _Neji looked at him, curious._

 _Naruto continued, but said in a low voice only Neji could hear…_

" _I think I got the gist of it."_

 _Neji's eyes widened, and he looked at Naruto as if he just sprout a second head._

" _Well, you yourself learned it from watching others use it. And it's not like the Byakugan in_ needed _for it."_

 _Neji just nodded, still bewildered._

" _Look, I just got the_ gist _of it, it will take me a while to get anything useful, my chakra control sucks. But could you please keep it quiet. Not just to keep it an ace, since if it was so surprising you did it it must be much more if I do it too, but because I'm a bit worried what could happen to you if people found out…"_

 _Neji closed his eyes… and began laughing._

IIIII

 **I tried my best to keep the main points of the fight, at least the anime ones… hope I cut out nothing important.**

 **Sorry if Naruto seemed a little too powerful here… I wanted to let him win** _ **without**_ **using Kurama's chakra, and since he trained in the Hunting Grounds, fighting monsters without chakra, I really think he could do it.**

 **About him learning the Kaiten (I am expecting people disliking this, but please hear me out)… it is actually pretty simple,** _ **Tenten**_ **explains exactly how it works in the anime. The problem is, it takes a lot of both chakra control, which the Hyuga are supposedly masters at, and chakra itself. So don't expect Naruto to actually be able to do it for a while.  
The basics of it **_**will**_ **be used in the future though, since I am planning to use it as the basis for Naruto eventually learning my favorite fictional technique…**


	10. In the Realm of the Dead

**Reception to the flashback-only chapter was... not very positive. People seemed to like the writing and the fight, but since the actual development came only at the end, and it will only bear fruit some books in the future… Well, there were complains of it slowing down the story, of being just filler, not fitting in the story.  
To be honest, until I was writing it I wasn't in the mood to actually add it. I just did it because I told you guys I would show the changes.  
I got into it as I wrote though.**

 **Well, now I learned. Since I promised, I will give a warning that Gaara's fight will probably also be a flashback-only chapter, but I will give a warning at the chapter's name (for those that read it before it was changed, I added it to the last one too).**

 **Also, fair warning… Naruto got the** _ **gist**_ **of the Kaiten, but he can't use it at all yet. This isn't Kung Fu Panda where seeing a technique once (actually, Po didn't even see that much in the movie, Shipuu didn't finish using it) lets you use them. He won't be using it for a while, if ever. I only made him learn it because 1- it requires skill to do, but is not that hard to imagine how to do it when you see it in action… and even less when you feel it, and 2- the principles are very close to the technique I want him to reproduce. But still different.**

 **So, about this chapter… since there was a whole chapter of flashback already… expect none in this one.  
The length didn't suffer though. At all.**

 **Let's get this story on the road!**

IIIII

It was quite a comedic scene. Naruto, the one they started looking up to, had his arms wrapped around Annabeth's waist like a child that just saw a horror movie. It actually made the other three feel better about him. He seemed more human now, less of a force of nature.

It was still annoying to Annabeth, and it slowed her down quite a bit to have to drag him as she walked, but even she couldn't help but see some humor in the situation.

Ghosts. Naruto was not just afraid, but _terrified_ of them.

And here they were, in the river Styx on the way to the Underworld, surrounded by them and the prospects of them thinning was less and less.

"You know…" Grover said, after watching him for a bit, "we should kinda be acting like he is… I mean, you do know that less than a handful of mortals ever got out of here, right? As in, ever?"

Naruto looked in his direction at that comment. He really, _really_ wanted to chew Grover out for his lack of believe in their group, but… ok, maybe he wasn't the best to say anything right now.

That was when he noticed where he was, on a boat with Percy, Grover, a skeleton in a black robe rowing and a blushing Annabeth he was holding by the waist.

He quickly let go of her, blushing himself.

"Sorry…"

"No worries, I've helped deal with scared children before," she teased, trying to hide the blush. Naruto scowled at the words, but he couldn't really say anything.

"So… you're afraid of ghosts?" Percy asked.

"Thought I already told you guys. Ghosts are unstoppable if they really want to harm you. What are you gonna do, kill them? They are already dead! Your best bet is trying to find a way to block them, and that' just stalling for time. Seriously, if this war we are trying to stop ever happens, my bet is on whichever side Hades is."

"You kids trying to stop a war?" Charon asked. "Then my bet is Lord Hades helping you. War only brings work for us. And with work… comes _paper_ work."

Naruto shivered at that.

"Uh, Naruto…" Percy asked, confused, "you get terrified of ghosts, you shiver for paperwork, but no answer from a skeleton guy?"

Naruto shrugged. "Bones can still break."

The ninja looked around, trying to ignore the spirits nearby. But the river, covered in a thin mist, was full of what Naruto could only call junk.

"The river Styx," Annabeth said. So, this was the sacred river even gods were bound to follow promises made to it. "It is so…"

"Poluted," finished the rower for her, he couldn't remember the name right now. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across – hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

So this is the place hopes and dreams went when they died, uh…  
Naruto couldn't help but smile. As far as he could, his ones would only end up here when he came with them.

…Which he was doing right now. 'Really takes away the impact of this promise, even in my own head…'

Percy was praying, and Grover was still holding himself from panicking. Naruto felt a bit bad that _he_ was the one that had been comforted…

As they approached the shore, with ground of volcanic sand surrounded by a stone wall, the darkness having a green hue instead of the blue of the outside world, they heard a loud howl.

"Looks like old three-face is hungry," the rower said with a creepy smile… Naruto thought, at least. He was a skeleton, so he always seemed to be smiling. "Bad luck for you…"

Getting out of the boat, Naruto took a deep breath.

"Alright. So, I am in the realm of ghosts, surrounded by them, going to meet the one guy who can order them around. No pressure."

"And I say and repeat, Naruto is the only one here who is taking this as serious as we should," Grover said.

Percy and Annabeth just shook their heads.

There were three entrances under an archway saying "You are not entering Erebus", each entrance with a line. The two with a sign saying "attendant on duty" were moving really slowly, but the one marked "EZ Death" was moving at fast speeds. There were some sort of gates with no door… or wall, and booths with people that looked a lot like the rower.

The roaring was making Naruto a bit uncomfortable for not being able to find it… But it did help him feel more aware.

"What do you think?" Percy asked Annabeth, the one with the most knowledge.

"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields, no doubt," she answered. "They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."

"There's a court for dead people?"

"Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare, people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward, the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."

"And do what?"

"Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever," answered Grover.

"…Why Kansas?" Naruto asked.

"Uh, what?"

"And why wheat, by the way?"

"Uhm, it is an American thing. It is basically doing nothing but being bored. It is not a happy thought, but at least it isn't eternal _pushishment_. Like that," Grover pointed.

A couple of rowers had pulled aside one spirit.

"Who's that?"

"He's a preacher who made the news."

"Oh, yeah, I remember his face now," Percy said.

"Why would a priest be treated badly?"

"Well, he raised millions of dollars from people who believed in him for orphanages, and then got caught spending the money on stuff for his mansion. Like gold-plated toilet seats, and an indoor putt-putt golf course. He died in a police chase when his 'Lamborghini for the Lord' went off a cliff. What're they doing to him?"

"Special punishment from Hades. The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fur—the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him," Grover explained.

"But he believes in a different hell..." Percy pointed out.

"Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. You're very stubborn—er, persistent, that way."

"I was once called the number one hyperactive knuckeheaded ninja!" Naruto said proudly.

"…Why are you proud of that?" Annabeth asked, before her mind took the one weird word there. "Wait, you're a _ninja_?"

"Ops. Didn't I tell you guys earlier?"

"No, you said you were trained from a young age but not that it was to be a _ninja_."

"Wait, wait," Percy interrupted. "Are you saying you're a ninja? A for-real ninja?"

"Yup. And a chunin ninja at that!"

"…And what does that mean?" Annabeth asked, curious. For all she studied, she was never much into Japanese culture to learn about these words… Would she know the meaning even then?

"That means I am good enough to lead a squad! Man, I can't believe I got it, I thought I wouldn't be promoted, with the whole talking when I was doing the exam and the village being invaded in the middle of it, but I guess I was just that awesome!"

The others just looked at him confused for a bit. 'Talking?'

"…What kind of ninja wears _orange_ though?" Percy finally asked.

"One with good enough stealth to be able to hide while wearing it," Naruto answered, huffing. "We don't focus on having stealthy _clothes_ most of the time, this would only get attention if you have to hide in a crowd or something."

"Makes sense," said Annabeth, "And he _was_ good enough to hide in the trees wearing ice-blue in the Capture the Flag."

Naruto shrugged and kept walking, the others following a bit behind him, but he noticed something as he advanced…

"Hey guys, there is supposed to be a giant three-headed dog here right?"

"Yes, Cerberus, the guardian of the gates of the Underworld. Did you find it?" Annabeth looked around.

"I think so. But… is it supposed to be transparent?"

The other three paid more attention to the end of the road, where Naruto was looking.

"I think I can see… something…" Grover said.

"I can see a shape, but it looks like a light trick or something," Percy added.

"How did _you_ see it from so far away?" Annabeth asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Could be training instinct, I may not be the best yet but was still trained to fight other ninjas. Or it could be something I got from Temie."

They kept walking, and the giant three-headed dog became more visible. More solid.

"It's a Rottweiler!" Percy said, surprised.

"A rottwhat?" Naruto looked at him confused.

"It's a kind of dog. I was thinking it was going to be a Mastiff."

"Doberman," said Grover.

"German Shepperd," Annabeth confessed. "I know it doesn't fit the timeline, but neither does Rottweiler. Must be because he is an archetype, and thus changes with time?"

"That's not important right now. The thing is, can he talk?"

The other three looked at him strangely.

"Naruto, I think I can talk to him, and maybe you because of Lady Artemis, but dogs don't talk," Grover answered.

"Pakkun does! And he is a dog. …Well, a ninja dog," Naruto corrected.

"Maybe he can talk because he is a ninja dog?" Percy pointed out.

"Nah, Akamaru is one too and can't talk."

Annabeth just opened her mouth. Then closed it. She wanted to ask more about ninjas and ninja dogs, she really did, but she had _another_ dog needing her attention more right now.

Cerberus growled more and more as they got closer, as well as he became more visible. The dead ignored it as they went on, by its side to get to the lines where they are judged and between its legs to go right to the fields.

"Uhm… why is it _sniffing_ for us?" Naruto asked, confused. "I mean, dogs have worse view than people, but they are not blind."

"That's what is worrying you?" Percy asked. "It is becoming more real too!"

Annabeth bit her lip, doing the math. "I think it is the same reason. It can about only smell us when we are far, but the closer we get the better it is at seeing us… Because we are getting closer to being dead."

The three boys just looked at her nervous face for a bit.

"Well, there's a happy tought…" Naruto finally said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry Naruto," Percy said, confident. "This time, _we_ have a plan."

"Right… a plan…" Annabeth confirmed nervously.

For some reason he did not think it was just nerves.

When they got close enough, the middle head looked at them and snarled.

As in, a _loud_ snarl.

"Can you understand it?" Percy asked Grover.

"Oh yeah, I can understand it."

"I can't…" Naruto said, a bit saddened.

"What's it saying?" Percy asked again.

"I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly."

"Just give us the idea then?" Naruto asked. "And why four-letters?"

"Time for the plan, then," Percy said, pulling something from his backpack.

It was a piece of wood.

"Hey, big guy! I bet they don't play with you much!" he said, waving the piece of wood.

The giant three-headed dog growled.

"Good boy."

The three heads looked at Percy's direction. One of them on the stick, the two others on the boy.

"Fetch!" he threw the piece of wood.

There was a sound of something falling in the river.

Cerberus did not seem impressed.

"So…" Naruto approached Annabeth, "That's the plan?"

The girl winced.

"Well, I have a better one now…" she started looking for something in her backpack. "It may not have been distracted enough to leave its post, probably was trained not to, but it _was_ distracted. So if one of us distracts it enough for the others to go through… Ah, here it is!"

When the two looked, the giant dog was ready to pounce on Percy and Grover.

Annabeth wasted no time running in its direction, a red ball raised in her hand. "See the ball?" she yelled to get his attention. "You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"

The dog just looked at her with all three heads.

So did Naruto, Percy and Grover.

"Sit!"

The dog sat obediently. Crushing some spirits that were going under him at the time.

"Good boy!"

She threw the ball, the middle head catching it. The other two started wanting to fight with it for the ball.

"Drop it," Annabeth said.

The dog looked at her serious face for a moment, then dropped it with a sad whimper.

That was when Naruto got the plan and made around six clones.

Three clones got to Annabeth, who was getting the ball, and the other three went to Cerberus.

"Go to the EX Death line, it's faster," she told the three boys… well, six now.

A Naruto pulled the two other boys before they could complain.

Cerberus started to growl.

"Stay! If you want the ball, stay!" Annabeth said.

The Cerberus stood still while the three went under it… and the three other Narutos started climbing his legs.

Then it stopped whimpering and began arfing happily, the three Narutos each rubbing behind an ear of a head.

Annabeth handed the ball to a Naruto, who raised it and repeated her command to "stay" while the girl went under it.

As soon as she passed it, the Naruto threw the ball. "Good dog!"

Annabeth and Naruto pulled the other boys from the mesmerizing scene of a giant dog playing with a ball with triplets.

As soon as they passed through the gates though, alarms started blaring.

"Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

The four ran past the gates, ignoring the alarms and the Cerberus barking while the six Narutos tried to draw his attention.

As they ran though, Percy couldn't help but hear the conversation Naruto had with Annabeth.

"We need to send Cerberus some toys later. His size this time."

"But where will we find them? Hephaestus' kids are more about metal than rubber, and mortals wouldn't make them big enough."

"Maybe not his size, but still bigger than normal? I saw some places had lions or tigers in Las Vegas, they must have bought toys for them somewhere."

Grover found a place for them to hide, a rotten trunk of a big black tree.

The guards went right past them.

"So, what did we learn today?" Grover asked after a bit.

"That three-headed dogs prefer rubber balls than sticks?" Percy said.

"That it is best to distract a guard dog than try to make it go somewhere else, especially one that has been trained not to leave its place for centuries?" Naruto tried.

"That giant three-headed dogs are dogs too?" Annabeth added her own.

"No, we learned that Percy's plans are really bad."

"Oh. No contest here."

"Same."

Percy just lowered his head, depressed.

IIIII

Naruto shivered as he forced himself to follow the other three through the Asphodel Fields.

An enormous field with black grass, just filled with people.

Dead people.

Naruto just concentrated on the head of the three in front of him.

He should have stayed with the Cerberus.

The others may think the dead were more sad than scary, with their eternal boredom and inability to talk to anyone, but that was because they were not attacking them! He was sure, if someone made the dead fight, they would be an unstoppable force, stopping only if they either were released or somehow released themselves from their control.

And who were they going to meet? Someone who could do just that!

He took a deep breath. He, of all people, had no right to treat people badly just because of what they _might_ do.

…Was this what the villagers felt when they looked at him? That they were at the side of a bomb tag that could explode at the smallest wrong move?

The other three suddenly looked back at the sound of flesh hitting flesh, finding Naruto with an eye growing dark.

"What the…"

"Nothing wrong Percy. Just noticed a guy was acting like an asshole and needed a reality check."

The three looked weirdly at each other. Did Naruto just punch himself in the eye for no reason?

The boy walked resolute, going first in line now. The others could see him trembling a bit, but he was clearly pushing his fear away.

They followed a line going to a black tent with a banner saying "Judgements for Elysium and Eternal Damnation". Naruto got a bit confused, wasn't this supposed to be for those who wanted to avoid being judged?  
Made sense though. Some people would think they didn't deserve the Elysium but did, and others just wanted to escape their punishment.

They could see two lines leaving the tent, the left one going to some sort of wasteland with rivers of lava and barbed wire. And people being tortured in different ways. Naruto did his best to avert his eyes, but the scenes of the Fields of Punishment. would forever be in his memory.  
The right one on the other hand seemed like a well-maintained path, going to what seemed to be a walled city. From what he could see it was a great place, resembling the best parts of… _everywhere_ he has ever been, even Konoha. Made sense, since people are usually more comfortable in their own time, and the Elysium was a reward.

But what got his attention was a group of three small islands in a lake in the middle of what was visible of the small city.

"Hey, what are those?" he asked.

"I know those," Percy answered. "The Isles of the Blest. Only for those who were reborn three times and deserved Elysium all three."

"That's what the camp is all about," Annabeth said. "That's the place for heroes."

Naruto said nothing, looking away saddened, and got back to walking.

Annabeth looked at the others, confused. Did she say something wrong?

Grover seemed as confused as her, but Percy just looked at Elysium with a frown.

"It's so small…"

IIIII

They walked some more miles, the Underworld going darker and darker, and the spirits were left behind. It seemed that even if the alternative was boredom forever few wanted to explore this area.

But visible in the distance was a castle made of black crystal, Annabeth called it obsidian. Three creatures were visible in it. They were far away, but they had a pretty good idea of _what_ they were…

"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said.

"We'll be okay," Percy tried to make him feel better, but his own voice was a little shaky.

"Yeah, we have nothing to fear," Naruto said. "We didn't really do anything wrong!"

"Maybe we should look at other places first… Like Elysium—"

"Then we need permission from Hades to pass through the guards. Unless you die and are sent there, but then you can't get out," Naruto cut him off. "But maybe they'd let us visit the Fiels of Puni—"

"Let's go guys, the Lord of the Underworld is waiting!"

The satyr took a step forward… and his shoes grew wings, pulling him even further and making him fall on his back.

"Beh? What the?"

Then they began dragging him.

"Uhm… I thought he had to say something for them to turn on?" Naruto asked as he followed the dragged satyr.

"Maia! Maia!"

"He _is_ saying it now, but it doesn't look like it is working," Percy answered.

"But why did it turn on _before_ he said it?"

"Stop talking and untie the shoes!" Annabeth said.

"Are you sure? What if we can't get them back?" Naruto asked, but held himself to the ground with chakra and pulled Grover until the sneakers were in the others' reach.

"Luke will understand! Hurry!"

He obeyed and untied the shoelaces, and the sneakers flew forward… but not before the laces wrapped themselves around Naruto's hands. Dropping Grover to the ground, he followed them willingly.

They seemed to be going to Hades' palace, but then they turned on the way. Naruto kept following it, as the underground changed to a tunnel shape.

He stopped himself by using chakra to hold himself to the ground and cut the shoelaces off right before they dove inside a chasm in the ground. Just looking at it made him feel sick, in no way he would actually go down there just for a pair of fancy shoes.

As he turned to leave, he saw the others running his way, so he stood his ground. He had just added some pieces in his head. He hoped he was wrong, the others would be really hurt if he wasn't, but…

"Naruto! Are you alright?" Annabeth asked, pale. The other two seemed terrified, but she seemed to be even more.

"What's wrong Annabeth? You look like me when I see a ghost!"

"What's wrong? _Whats wrong?_ " she asked back in near-hysterics.

But then they started hearing something, some voice coming from the chasm.

Naruto did not know what it was, but he knew it was bad. He turned to the three, and started running.

"Don't stay there! Go, go, go!"

They ran away as fast as they could, Naruto holding back on his speed so the three were in front of him.

Then the four of them could feel it, something sucking the wind itself, as if trying to pull them back.

They kept running until it stopped, an angry wail showing that something was not happy they escaped.

"Wha… what just happened?" Grover asked, taking deep breaths.

"What was _that_?" Percy agreed, trembling.

"I don't know," Naruto answered. "I just heard some chanting and thought it was best to book it."

Annabeth eyed him, eyes wide.

"You were almost pulled into the entrance to Tartarus!"

Naruto frowned, trying to remember the meaning of name.

"The darkest and deepest part of the Underworld, where the gods put their enemies?"

"Yes. It is said that something falling in it from the surface would take nine days and nine nights to reach it. It would be less time here, but even if you survive it would be too late when you got out."

"That chasm, it is the one from my dreams!" Percy said, eyes wide.

Naruto sighed. That just confirmed his thoughts.

"Guys… let's get going… I think what I am going to say won't be good for you to hear…"

They walked some time, more to get away from the chasm and the tunnel than to go forward, the three looking at Naruto weirdly.

With a sigh, he waved at them, and sat down.

"I… think I figured out the 'betrayal from a friend'…" he said. He had no emotional investment in this if he was right besides the whole "betrayal" thing, but if he was right, for the others…

The three looked at him curious, and a bit apprehensive.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself to begin.

"Guys, do you… think of Luke as a friend?"

"Of course," Percy said without a doubt. "He went out of his way to help me when I arrived, and even after I left the cabin he kept giving me sword lesson…s… wait…"

"Naruto, Luke would never betray us!" Annabeth said angrily.

"Yeah Naruto. He even forgave me!"

The blond sighed. "Guys… I'm sorry. But I'm pretty sure he is the thief."

He raised his hand before anyone could say anything.

"Let's begin with the opportunity. He is a full-time camper, so he _was_ in Olympus during the winter solstice. He said himself the only way to get the Lightning Bolt—"

"Master Bolt, lightning bolts are made on its image," corrected Annabeth.

"Whatever. He said himself the only way to get it was by being invisible. So he either stole it himself or looked around enough to make a plan to do it. And since he is friends with Annabeth, he could have taken her cap for a bit and put it back in place before she noticed it.  
In fact, being the son of Hermes, a god whose domains include thieves, he would have no trouble doing it."

"Ok, so maybe he had the means, but—"

"I can't say a motive for sure…" he cut Annabeth off, "but when me and Percy first met him, when Percy asked about his father he turned really aggressive. It _may_ be an attempt to put his father in trouble. Or maybe he was tempted by someone else, for some price he thought good enough. Maybe even he just got the impulse to steal it for the thrill and now is trying to save his skin from punishment. But let's be honest here, we don't really need the motives here, just to know that he did it. Or at least is working with who did it."

"What are you talking about? Luke didn't do anything!"  
Annabeth was denying it, but she was also curious. What could have convinced Naruto of Luke's fault when he pointed out himself how stupid it was to suspect everyone earlier?

Naruto pointed to the tunnel.

"The shoes. At first it seemed like an honest mistake, giving Percy shoes that fly. He wanted to help but didn't think it through. Then during the Iris Message he asked if Percy was using it and if it helped. Percy lied and said he was using them."

"Yes, and?" Annabeth said, angry at the boy. "Yeah, it wasn't the smartest thing, but they are shoes of Hermes, the patron of travelers, and we were traveling!"

"Yeah Naruto, I can't see what is the problem here," agreed Percy, with Grover nodding.

"'The problem' is that the shoes went crazy here, and tried throwing who was wearing them to Tartarus. A place that from what Annabeth said would take too long to get out of for the person to be useful to the quest. And the person, as far as Luke is concerned, is Percy."

"This theory is full of holes!" Annabeth complained. "For starters, we are in the domains of Hades, he could—"

"If he could, or anyone working for him, he would have done it earlier. Or if he was just waiting until we got close enough, he wouldn't have kidnapped Mrs. Jackson to get… whatever he wants from Percy. It would be a waste of time."

"Something inside Tartarus then!"

"You mean inside the chasm that from what Percy dreamed the person who is controlling this war is at? I agree."

Annabeth looked at him victoriously.

"So you agree that whoever it is who wants the Lightning Bolt is not Hades."

That soured her mood a bit, but that wasn't the point.

"Ok, so it is not him. But that doesn't make it being Luke's fault! So alright, he gave them to Percy and as far as he knows Percy was the one wearing them when we got here. But it wasn't Luke that made the sneakers fly like that!"

"Maybe we can't say for sure. But he is the one that _could_. If whoever is there could control any magical item that passed through here, I'm sure they'd have blocked the entrance better."

"Only a handful of people were able to enter the Underworld while alive before us!"

"A handful too much to leave that security breach," Naruto countered. "Either way, even if it _could_ influence a magical item from so far as we were when it grew its wings, I doubt Hermes would have given a child of his an item that could be controlled so easily. So either the being is too powerful for it, which considering how far it pulled the shoes from it would have had a much easier time pulling us into the chasm, or…"

"Or the shoes were sabotaged," Percy finished for him.

The four went quiet for a while.

"I-I can't believe this!"

"Believe it or don't Annabeth, I can't make you," Naruto answered her. "Just… be careful around Luke. If I am wrong you just point it in my direction, the worst that could happen is that he feels insulted. But, if I am right…"

He stood up and walked back on the path to the castle. He could hear the others following him, and Annabeth's sobs.

IIIII

Naruto passed through the decorated gates and the garden to reach the inside of Hades' actual palace. Well, "insides" because there were walls, but there was no roof. Made sense since it was inside a cave though.

There were plenty of doors, guarded by skeletons in different uniforms, but the one that they were going for was the big set right in the end of the corridor, guarded by two with some pipe-like weapons.

He noticed something wrong with Percy, he kept trying to adjust his backpack, but maybe it was just nerves. He was about to meet a god, this time knowing about it. And unlike Mr. D, who went out of his way to aggravate people so they forgot about it, and Ares, who could do it just by being nearby, Hades was clearly going for awe and intimidation.

"Well guys, I suppose we should knock?" Percy asked.

"Meh, chances are he already knows we are here," Naruto countered. "I mean, even if he can't feel us here by some godly power or something, the Furies—"

"Don't say the name!" Grover complained.

"…Grover, we are already here, going to meet their boss. I don't think saying their name will give us too much trouble anymore.  
Anyway, they saw us coming so they must have told him. If we aren't supposed to go in, I'm sure the guards will stop me."

Just as Naruto's hands went to the doors, paying attention if the guards would do anything, a hot wind blew and opened them for him, the guards stepping aside.

"That answers that," Annabeth said. Naruto noticed by her tone that she was still angry at him, but was grudgingly accepting that his words made some sense. He was sure she was going to look for a way to either find the real thief or prove Luke innocent, well good luck for her, it's not like he minds being wrong. As long as the real culprit is found.

Naruto shrugged and entered.

"Woah, you're tall!"

Hades couldn't help but raise his eyebrow in confusion. Whatever he expected from Naruto, that wasn't it.

"I mean, I know you gods can get giant-sized if you want, but this is the first time I see one bigger than possible for a mortal. Is it to try and scare us?  
Well, it is a good try, but while I feel a sense of 'this guy is deadly', I don't feel 'this guy wants to kill me' like I did when we met Zabuza so… Yeah, not scaring me _that_ easy."

Hades decided to ignore the blond and turned his gaze to the black-haired boy.

"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon. After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Naruto said hurriedly, jumping between Percy and Hades "calm down… Can I call you Mr. H? Dionysius likes being called Mr. D."

"I'd prefer to be called Lord Hades while we are not in the best of relations," Hades answered.

"Well Lordy," he continued, not noticing Hades glaring at him or the three behind him paling, "we kinda are looking for Z's lightning bolt, and on the way here some things happened and we _think_ , feel free to tell us if we are wrong, that your helm was also stolen. So, if you have any idea or remember anything that would help us find both the lightning bolt and your helm, since we think the person must have stolen both. Actually, someone that I myself think is the thief, but I'm free to be proved wrong, said that someone would _need_ something like your helm to steal the bolt, so…"

Hades just stared at Naruto. He couldn't tell if it was a good or a bad thing.

"Oh, and Percy's mom. He wants her back. Not to ask for payment or anything, we'd do it anyway when we found it, but could you give her back when we find the helm?"

Hades leaned forward, and Naruto could notice that his clothes seemed to have faces, as if they held souls inside.

"You dare carry on with this pretense, as if you did not know for a fact that my helm was stolen? You tease me by saying that the person that stole it must be the one with the Master Bolt, while you carry it with yourselves?"

"Wait, what?" Naruto turned around, eyes wide, meeting the face of the other three with the same dumbfounded expression.

"Did you really believe I wouldn't notice it inside the pack of Poseidon's son? It is a powerful artifact, amongst the most powerful. I do not know how you masked it for so long, but now it is visible to me clearly."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion, before going to Percy and taking the bag from him, going back to where he was, in both view of the three and Hades, and turning it upside-down, shaking it for good measure.

That made Hades' eyes go wide.

"You fool! Do you have any idea—"

A metal cylinder was the first thing to fall to the ground, heavily, making Hades wince, before the food, clothes, money and Hermes tickets fell on top of it.

Naruto, confused, grabbed the cylinder. It had spiky tips, and he could feel the energy hum as he held it.

"What's this, Percy? I'm pretty sure it wasn't there while we were in the Lotus Casino."

"I-I'm not sure—"

"It's the Master Bolt!" Annabeth answered, eyes wide. "Naruto, be careful, this is one of the strongest weapons ever created!"

Naruto carefully grabbed the cylinder from the ground, eyes wide.

Hades eyes lost his anger as he looked at Naruto's direction.

"Well… I can say for sure that you out of all here had no idea it was there. No way you would be so foolish if you had," Hades corrected himself. "But that does not excuse your companions."

"Yeah, I… but why?" he looked at the others, his voice a mix of confused and hurt, "I know we didn't split in the best of terms, but you could at least have told me you guys found it…"

"We didn't!" Percy answered as honestly as he could. "We would have sent it to Zeus through Hermes like you said if we did! _He_ must have put it in there, I felt an extra weight when we got close to the palace!"

"Percy, didn't you guys agree not long ago that it was _not_ Hades?" Naruto pointed out, angry at their stubbornness. He knew he had no right to say anything about it, but _seriously_!

"Typical from someone related my brothers," Hades said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Actually, typical from most of my relatives. They probably think I would welcome a war."

"Wouldn't a war expand your kingdom, though?" Percy asked, confirming Hades' words.

"Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"

"Well…"

"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open? More security ghouls. Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"

"Charon wants a pay raise," Percy said, incensing Hades even more.

"Don't get me started on Charon! He's been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I've got to handle all of them personally. The commute time alone from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving."

"And the paperwork," Naruto pointed out. If the Hokage had to deal with a lot of it, then the Underworld, being much bigger and more populated…

"Actually I am able to delegate most of it, but the people that do it are overworked and it is hard to find someone worthy of the trust needed to add to them.  
No, godling. I need no help getting subjects! I have no desire for war…"

As he said that, the doors opened and hundreds of skeleton warriors entered, blocking all visible exits.

"…But I won't shy away from one either if it is what your parent is going for."

Percy, Grover and Annabeth were terrified. Naruto himself widened his eyes, he may be out of the line of fire but he would do his best to protect the others.

"My parent? What are you talking about?" Percy asked, in a mix of confusion and indignation.

"Do not take me for a fool. You were the thief on the winter solstice. Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus, you took the master bolt and my helm. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helm back!"

"No, I didn't—I didn't even know—"

"Why have you come? You already had the Master Bolt. Do not claim it is to offer help in retrieving my helm. I have said nothing of the helm's disappearance because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing.  
Does Poseidon think he can blackmail me into supporting him? Foolish brother. When it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you."

"You didn't try to stop us?" Percy asked, confused. "But—"

"Return my helm now, or I will stop death. That is my counterproposal," Hades said with finality. "I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson, your skeleton will lead my army out of Hades."

The skeletal soldiers all took one step forward, making their weapons ready.

"Wait, aren't _you_ Hades?" Naruto asked, confused.

Hades looked at him.

"Hades is my name, but it is also the proper name of the Underworld. Just like Tartarus and the primordial."

"You're as bad as Zeus," Percy interrupted, angry. "You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?"

"Of course," Hades said, as if it was obvious.

After all, he had just said it.

"And the other monsters?"

"I had nothing to do with them."

"Not even the hellhounds that attacked me while I was looking for the entrance on the internet?" Naruto asked himself.

Annabeth paled even more. "You used a computer?"

"Hey, it's not like anyone told me we couldn't use tech to talk. I only found out _after_ I was using a computer. _Through_ the computer."

"Hellhounds," Hades interrupted, "are dogs. Magical, but still dogs. Some _are_ trained to serve me, but others are strays. If it was just the dogs you met, chances are they were so."

He then resumed talking to Percy.

"I wanted no quick death for you. I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily?"

"Easily?" Percy asked, incredulous.

"Well, it was Percy," Naruto told him. "You were able to convince the rower guy to bring you in, and the only actual problem we had while here were Cerberus and Luke's shoes."

The other three's eyes widened at that. It was true, most of their troubles happened _before_ they got to the Underworld.

"Return my property!" Hades interrupted.

"But I don't have your helm. I came for the master bolt," Percy tried to talk him down.

"Which you already possess!" Hades shouted. "You heroes are always the same… Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus' master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now… my helm. Where is it?"

"You really think that if we had stolen the helm we would bring it here?" Naruto asked. "Do we really look that stupid? Please ignore Percy before answering."

"Hey!"

"It _would_ be stupid," said Hades, acknowledging Naruto's words. "But the same could be said about bringing the Master Bolt to my domains.  
But again, you did not come just to talk about the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness, did you? No, you also came to bargain… for her."

Hades let a golden ball fall in front of Percy, and there appeared a statue of a woman Naruto only saw for a second. But Percy's reaction confirmed who she was.

Mrs. Jackson.

Naruto could see the Furies looking at the scene, a smug smile clear in the face of the one they called Mrs. Doods.

"Yes. I took her," Hades said, satisfaction at Percy's reaction clear in his voice. "I knew, Percy Jackson, that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."

Percy seemed to be thinking about something, as if he had a plan.

"Ah, the pearls," Hades said, and Percy paled. "Yes, my brother and his little tricks. Bring them forth, Percy Jackson."

Percy raised his hand, four pearls on it.

"Only four. What a shame. You do realize each only protects a single person. Try to take your mother, then, little godling. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Choose. Or give me the backpack and accept my terms."

Naruto blinked at that. Then looked at the metal cylinder in his hand.

"Why the backpack? Why not just the bolt?"

"The backpack is clearly the Bolt's sheath," Hades explained. "It does no good to have the Bolt in my hands when it can be summoned away to it at any time."

Naruto's eyes widened, then narrowed in anger.

"Ares."

Everyone, even Hades, looked at him in confusion.

"That backpack was given to us by Ares with things that were supposed to help us on our way. He set us up."

"That is a grave accusation, godling," Hades said seriously.

"And the ones you and your brothers keep throwing around aren't?" the blond replied just as serious.

Hades had no answer.

"Percy," Grover put his hand on his shoulder, "you can't give him the bolt."

"I know that," the boy answered seriously.

"Leave me here. Use the third pearl on your mom."

"No!" Percy replied instantly.

"I'm a satyr. We don't have souls like humans do. He can torture me until I die, but he won't get me forever. I'll just be reincarnated as a flower or something. It's the best way."

"No," Annabeth countered, drawing her knife. "You two go on. Grover, you have to protect Percy. You have to get your searcher's license and start your quest for Pan. Get his mom out of here. I'll cover you. I plan to go down fighting."

"No way, I'm staying behind." Grover replied.

"Think again, goat boy."

"Stop it, both of you!" Percy yelled.

The two calmed down, looking at him.

"I know what to do. Take these. You too Naruto."

The blond approached the three, and Percy gave each of them a pearl.

"But, Percy…" Annabeth said, figuring out what Percy decided.

She noticed the smirk on Naruto's face. She wanted to punch him at that minute.

"I'm sorry. I'll be back. I'll find a way," Percy told the statue.

"Godling…?" Hades asked, comprehension dawning on his face.

"I'll find your helm, Uncle. I'll return it. Remember about Charon's pay raise."

"Do not defy me—"

"And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while. He likes red rubber balls."

"Percy Jackson, you will not—"

"Now, guys!" Percy shouted.

Three of them smashed the pearls at their feet.

The fourth cursed. "Oh, shit."

The three looked at Naruto. The Naruto whose body was at the end of a throwing motion.

His pearl was held in Hades' hand, who seemed kind of ridiculous on the ground between Naruto and the golden statue.

"What…" Percy asked.

"You gave me the pearl," Naruto explained. "It was mine from then on."

Annabeth understood, and felt ashamed of being angry at him.

"I chose to use _my_ pearl on someone else."

Before Percy could say anything, the pearls at his feet exploded in green light and wind. The three were surrounded by pearl-colored spheres and began floating upwards, before going _through_ the ceiling.

"It was a very noble sacrifice," Hades said after standing up, still holding the pearl. He walked back to his throne. "Alecto, go after Percy Jackson and the others. _Make_ them give you my helm."

"I have no quarrel with you," he told Naruto. "I will give you a fair trial, and I am sure your latest actions would justify sending you to Elysium."

"It _does_ sound like a good offer… but I'll have to refuse. I still have a lot I need to do."

Hades raised an eyebrow. "And how do you think you will be able to go back to the world of the living to accomplish them?"

Naruto shrugged.

"Thinking was never my strongest. I'm more of a 'wing it' guy."

Before Hades could say anything else Naruto _blasted_ from his position towards Mrs. Jackson's statue, making a hole on the impeccable ground.

He made a clone and pulled the statue to his shoulder, holding it in place with his left arm.

His right, the clone was helping him make the Fourth's signature attack jutsu.

"Stop him," Hades ordered.

Naruto blasted from his position again, statue firmly in his shoulder and Rasengan held in front of him, shredding every skeleton that dared stand in his way.

He kept running, Rasengan in place, after exiting the palace. He could hear the two remaining Furies following him.

He did not care. His only answer was to push more chakra into his legs. Running faster.

He feared being stopped by the spirits in the Asphodel Fields, but they… did nothing. At first they didn't even move as he and the Rasengan went through them, but as he progressed and the Furies approached they began parting for him.

He ran under Cerberus' legs, ignoring the clones playing with the big dog.

He went through the opening in the wall, put his foot in the river… and it sunk.

Naruto jumped back.

He could _feel_ his chakra, no, his _life energy_ , being sucked from him.

He dispelled the Rasengan, and went to the _wall_.

He could still feel the river sucking his life, but much less, much weaker.

He began running, holding Mrs. Jackson with both arms.

He could _feel_ himself becoming weaker. His arms becoming heavier. His legs moving slower. The Furies reaching him.

He pushed forward.

He ran. He pushed himself as far as he could. He felt like he was running for hours.

His vision was abandoning him little by little, all his body's energy focused on running and holding the golden statue.

Something pulled Mrs. Jackson from his arms, but he kept his grip. He was too weak, couldn't see it properly, but by the shape he could tell it was one of the Furies.

He pulled back, trying to go higher to make her let go.

His foot slipped. His grip on the wall was loosening.

It he held the woman, she would fall with him.

And he knew that if they fell on the water, they _would_ die.

His grip was not enough to hold both anymore.

She was a hostage, though. Hades would not punish her for something she didn't do, and she would only be valuable to him if he kept her alive.

He made his choice. He let her go.

And with this, he also let go of the last of his willpower, the only think that kept him going.

As he fell to the river, the only things he could think of were apologies. To Percy and Mrs. Jackson for not being able to save her. To Granma Tsunade for not being able to become Hokage like he told her he would. To Artemis for dying before they could know each other better.

His last conscious thought was that he had failed everyone.

IIIII

 **So, yeah. Not many changes from canon this chapter. I am sure that after the last chapter being a full flashback, this one must also be pretty disappointing…**

 **But there were** _ **some**_ **changes. None that are clear in this chapter, but that will be important in the future.**

IIIII

 **I couldn't resist adding an omake:**

"Hey, are you the rower from the dream I had when I ate a poisonous mushroom by accident some time ago?"

Everyone just looked to Naruto weirdly. Even the spirits.

Then the rowing skeleton asked something that just confused everyone else:

"Was it one where I was rowing a boat with an one-eyes David Bowie?"

"…Yes."

"Oh, would you look at the time, we are late!" the rower said out of nowhere, looking at a wrist that did not have a watch. "You guys better be going!"

The boat sped up, stopping at the shore. The rower didn't even botter counting the gold coins Percy gave him before rowing back away.

Naruto couldn't help it.

"I love you rower!"

"Whatever man!"

Grover said what everyone else was thinking:

"What."

Naruto looked at him seriously. His eyes darkened as if remembering eldritch horrors.

"Grover, do yourself a favor. If you are ever in doubt if something is poisonous… don't eat it."

"Uhm, o…kay?"

"Good," Naruto nodded, and advanced singing a song.

"I give my life, not for honor but for you…"


	11. Ripples

**I'd like to thank Shigure Toshiro for pointing out a mistake I made last chapter. I sometimes take pieces that would be the same as in the book, copy them and add some changes to make it unique. But that means sometimes something I changed from the book that is mentioned there could be passed over by accident. In this case, I gave Percy four pearls, but forgot to change Hades' line from him saying Percy had three. It is fixed now, but I'd still like to thank for pointing it out.**

 **Some of the changes Naruto caused already affect this chapter, although their real effect will be really felt later. No points for guessing the real identity of the "OC".**

 **Also…**

 **Been holding back, but with this chapter it is official: this is a four-sided crossover. Won't tell what the fourth crossover is yet, it won't affect anything but the setting for a while, if ever, but I will explain why it is such a good addition in my opinion (some of you may figure out what it is from these):**

 **As mentioned before, in this story I will follow the trail of info that claims that monsters in Monster Hunter are remnants from war with an ancient civilization of another species. In this other universe, the backstory is that there was once a war with an ancient civilization of another species, and that humans were victorious but learned to use the defeated group's technology, it being the base of the magic system in the latest game (the one this crossover is most focused on). It resonates with nature itself, allowing the users to control the world in a very limited fashion. This resonance is a very important plot point in the ending there.  
This "nature magic" adaption would allow the hunters to do unexplained things things like use wystones or horn songs to affect their allies in ways that would seem unnatural. I actually have no other explanation in mind with how the Hunting Horn would work…**

… **And that is the limit of the fourth universe's involvement for now. Maybe more in the future, but I have no plans – in fact, my plans are to avoid much else from them.**

IIIII

"'Only three will return in glory', it said…" Percy said as he looked at the backpack.

"Uh?" Grover looked at Percy confused. He had been looking at the point of the sea where they arrived from Hades. At where _three_ of the four arrived from Hades.

"There is still things missing," Annabeth said. "We still have to find the Helm of Darkness. Maybe if we do Naruto will be released with your mom."

"You… think we can find it?" Percy asked, spirits lifting.

"We should, the prophecy you got said so. 'The four shall head west to the land devoid of life,' Naruto thought it would be the desert, but we only ended up going together to the Underworld. But the next line is 'what was stolen will be returned'…"

"'But only three will return in glory,'" Grover understood. "Do you think that means he won't be seen as finishing the quest since he was captured or…"

"The first one. It _has_ to be!" Percy said, eyes watering.

"The next lines are about him, I think, so he has to be. 'The flame that thrives in the darkness' must be him, since he is a ninja. But I have no idea what 'shall face that darkness turns into elder light' could be," Annabeth admitted. "Either way, I doubt it is about him dying."

"The betrayal… Naruto seemed convinced it must be Luke," Percy said. "I don't _want_ to think that about him, but better be careful around him until we find the real thief."

Annabeth bit her lip.

"I don't want to say this… but many of the things we did could be seen as the betrayal. I mean, I convinced you two to leave him behind, for starters…"

"But there is the thief. We _know_ someone must have done it, and… as Naruto pointed out, Luke is the one that makes the most sense… It would make much more sense if it was that.  
An ancient evil returns… must be whatever was in the pit that talked to me and the thief in my dreams. But…"

"We still have no idea what 'prophecies collide' could mean," Grover finished.

Percy sighed again and threw himself on the sand on his back.

Then he started feeling rage. A _familiar_ feeling of rage.

The sound of footsteps in the sand approaching confirmed his thoughts, as he stood up frowning.

"Hey kid. You were supposed to die," Ares said to the rising Percy, amused.

He looked at each and every one of them.-

"I see blondie is still there, at least," he said with a smile. "Pity, he had potential. So much rage hidden inside…"

"You are late," Percy said seriously.

"Oh? Did you know I was coming?"

"Well, I survived and didn't finish your delivery, figured you'd come to try and get someone to send it back since you said yourself it was such a great weapon."

Ares laughed.

"Good thought, but I don't really need to send it to Corpse Breath, Old Seaweed already knows you went there to get it back, and the other one already saw you had the Bolt. They will both accuse each other as long as you don't survive. And all the while Zeus is angry for not having the bolt, and Hades is for not having this beauty," he raises a ski cap and puts it in his back, which turns it into a bronze war helmet. "It is not the three-way battle like I wanted, but it is still a good one."

"I didn't mean Hades, I meant the one I was _really_ supposed to send it to!"

"Wow, you are more stupid than I thought, kiddo. _Corpse Breath_ was the one you were supposed to send it to."

Percy crossed his arms, glaring at Ares, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Oh really? I was just supposed to send it to Hades when him not having it would work just as well, giving him and not you the greatest weapon in the world? I see."

But what Ares said next surprised the trio, or at least _how_ he said it. It was like he was in a trance, or fighting one.

It was like he was arguing with himself, or a voice in his head, about why he did it instead of just keeping the bolt.

After a bit, he settled down again. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught redhanded, holding the thing."

"You're lying," Percy said without any hesitation. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"Of course it was!" Ares replied angrily, his flame eyes threatening to burn his sunglasses.

"You didn't order the theft. Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."

"I am the god of war!" Ares roared. "I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

"Who said anything about dreams?" Percy asked, a smirk going into his face.

IIIII

Hades paced furiously in front of Artemis. Funny how the matters inverted.

Of course she went there, furious, to take satisfaction with him, after all naturally or not Naruto was her child.

She was immediately rebuked. _He_ went there, in the place no mortal was supposed to be allowed. _He_ was the one that got in his head to escape by himself. If he had so much confidence in his companions he should have waited for them, it didn't take even an hour for them to deliver his helm back.

Artemis nodded at that. He had a point. But again, Naruto is impulsive, his plans are most spur-of-the-moment things. He probably didn't even think about that.

Hades could understand a bit, after all he had been impulsive in that one himself. Maybe mentioning sending him to Elysium made him think he would be executed right away.

It did no good at holding back his anger though. The boy had tried to cross the Styx! Carrying someone with him! Yes, he had the best of intentions, but he could still have more than killed not only himself but Sally Jackson too!  
If he had let her fall, a soul that could be eventually sent to Elysium would be lost forever! There is no way out for those that bathe in it without their parent's permission. And even if she did, she had no knowledge of the other requirements for survival. She could easily think of her son, but few knew that she had to also choose a spot of vulnerability and a rope linking them to the living.

Not to mention the boy himself. It came to his knowledge that, if the boy was sent to Elysium, he was one of the rare few qualified to the Isles of the Blest… if he convinced the Shinto to let him keep the boy. Oh, that is a headache on the way.

 _Is_ , not was, because the boy is currently on the verge of becoming this bureaucratic nightmare, and pending mostly on the side of keeping him busy, because even when he was dying he kept going. He was sure that even if he arrived on the exit he would not be among the living long enough to announce to Percy Jackson of his mother's exit.

The boy was lucky that Tisiphone got to the duo as fast as she did, and that her strength was too much for him to fight back at that point. If he had not seen sense that that was a lost battle and he would lose the woman either way, he would not have had enough life in his body anymore to have any chance when Megaera caught him as he plummeted.

Apollo assured them that he was going to be able to restore his "nephew", but that made little to diminish Hades' anger or their worry.

They would wring his neck anyway, but if he died it would not be the same.

IIIII

Zeus read the letter Perseus Jackson sent with the sheath of his Master Bolt through Hermes. He read the accusation against Ares, and he read his belief that he had been controlled by something in Tartarus.

He glared at the letter, but could do nothing against it. Apollo's powers of Truth were lesser through writing, but he was able to confirm that what was written was, as far as Perseus knew, the truth.

He sighed. He had no choice but apologize to his brother and punish his son. It was all in writing, confirmed by the god of Truth himself. But the part about something in Tartarus being the true mastermind… No, it couldn't be true. Perseus was saying what he _thought_ was the truth, maybe there even was something else there that could do it, but it couldn't be _him_.

He would keep that info for himself as much as he could. If his suspicions became known there would be just mass panic in Olympus. That meant a harsher punishment for Ares, though.

Maybe… yes, why not. Why mess with the classics. Poseidon and Apollo seemed to hate it, so it would be viewed as a harsh enough punishment while still in his opinion being lenient enough on account of him being controlled.

IIIII

Light. He could feel it in his eyelids.

Warm light at that, it didn't feel artificial.

He could feel he was in a bed under a blanket, but he could also feel the light illuminating him completely from above. It was like he was sleeping in a bed in an open field.

It felt _really_ comfortable.

But would feel even more if he didn't feel like he was barely able to breath, much less move.

Even so, he forces himself to open his eyes… and the first thing he sees is a smile.

His vision adapting to the light, he finds out that the smile belongs to someone blond and tanned like him, also with shining blue eyes, but his face was shaped differently, and the hair was wavy in contrast to his spikes.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Uzumaki Naruto," the man said in perfect Japanese. "I am Apollo, and I am your medic for today."

No wonder so many at camp thought they were related at first.

"W-what happened?"

"You were a reckless idiot," Apollo answered seriously. "Not that I can say much, but if you died you would sadden my sister greatly. And trust me, even I had problems making sure you survived that. Since you already survived it I can tell you, your string of life was almost cut by Atropos. It was cut a bit, but not completely until they decided you die."

Naruto gulped.

"A-and what does this mean?"

"It means that you were _really_ close to dying. Don't use chakra for at least a week since it uses your life energy, a month is better but I know better than to ask. Just… try your best. You mean a lot to my sister."

Naruto frowned, but nodded.

"I mean it. Even checked with Aphrodite, and trust me, she takes all forms of love _seriously_. Storge, parental love, even if she didn't actually bring you to term or even really enter your life until recently. She sees you the same as she sees her hunters, and that is a _lot_ of love.  
You only see her as a big sister tops, your love for her is more of a philia, friendship love, but I hope you can develop storge for her some day. As long as it is not eros, romantic love, it's good enough for me."

"Uh… I know she isn't _technically_ my mom but…" Naruto replied, looking a bit green.

"Yeah, well she is a goddess. That isn't that uncommon among us. Persephone is Hades' niece, Hera is Zeus' sister, Aphrodite is actually Hephaestus and Ares' great-grandaunt…"

"I get it, I get it!" Naruto interrupted.

Apollo nodded, and ruffled Naruto's hair. "You better, nephew. I'd hate to have to give you the same treatment I gave Orion."

Naruto gulped again, watching the sun god walking to the door.

"Oh, and by the way, it was not a prophecy," he said before leaving.

Naruto looked in his eyes, confused.

"What you found in the desert. It was not a prophecy, just a warning about something that could come back. Trust me, I am the god of both Prophecy and Truth."

Naruto had forgotten about it.

He recited the text in his head. He remembered he panicked about reading it at the time exactly because it was during the day.

"So, the Heaven's Wheel—"

"Not me. If it was, I could have just let you die. But I didn't," he answered with a smile. "Can't say what it could be though, probably something from outside Olympus' influence. Like the prophecy I can feel but can't see in you."

"…There is a prophecy about me?"

"Not sure, I can't see it myself. Chances are you are just one of the candidates though, since the Fates were willing to let you die. Prophecies are usually a bit ambiguous, at the least. I can see them… usually, but can't find out what they really mean until they pass."

Naruto nodded. So even the god of prophecy himself could not really tell the future for sure… That was actually reassuring.

"Well, I'm going to tell your visitors you are up. Please make sure they see this before they do anything."

Apollo then handed Naruto a big piece of paper saying in big letters "please don't strangle me for a whole minute, it causes brain damage and you know I don't need more of it"

"Wait a—" Naruto said, indignant.

But Apollo was already gone, and an Artemis with eyes glowing an angry silver was at the door in his place.

Naruto wisely turned the writing to face her and tried using it as a shield.

IIIII

"So… not that I'm complaining, but you do not usually come here in the summer…" Apollo points out.

Hades shrugs. "Officially, I came to bring the kid and will be going back as soon as he is ready to leave your care. Unofficially… Did you know people are starting to believe that I am _forbidden_ to leave the Underworld? And since I am the one with most responsibilities among us three, I am the one with the less free-time and have not much chance to come outside and prove otherwise. Well, why not remind my brothers that those are just rumors and that I actually have the right to come and go as much as it pleases me?"

"I see," Apollo nodded. "And the fact your wife will be going to the beach while her mother is at the meeting had nothing to do with your extended stay?"

"Of course not! I am here because I consider the boy currently my responsibility!"

"I see. Well, I am sorry to say that he will only be allowed to leave after the meeting. He is already safe to go, or was before my sister went to meet him, but I'd like for him to stay some more days for… observation."

"That is understandable. And although I have no reason to thank you, if I had a reason to do so I would."

IIIII

Percy did not go right to Half-Blood Hill. The others agreed that, even after all the time they stood travelling, he deserved to see if his mother was back.

She was.

And Gabe was still there too.

Percy left the apartment relieved though. As he was talking with his mother, a package arrived. The head of Medusa he had cut.

He decided to do as she wanted, and let her take care of herself.

He was sure there would be no Gabe in the house the next time they met either way.

Arriving at the camp had been a big deal. Seems like they were the first heroes to come back alive in a while. They had a feast while wearing laurel wreaths, and then they went to burn the burial shrowds that had been made by their cabinmates in the event they failed… well, Annabeth's.

Annabeth's had been gray silk with embroidered owls. Percy's, since he had no one else to make one for him, was made by Ares' kids. It was just an old bedsheet with dead smiley faces and the word "loser". Unlike Annabeth's, this one he had no pity seeing burn.

Naruto's was made by Apollo's cabin, since they are kind of cousins. It was a silvery silk that shimmered in the light, with embroidered crescent moons.

Seeing it dropped the trio's moods. Percy's mother was back, but where was Naruto?

Everyone seemed a bit saddened by that lone remaining shroud as they went to a sing-along following Apollo's cabin. The only ones that did not seen saddened were Ares' Cabin, who seemed too pissed at Percy for humiliating their father to care about it, and Chiron and Mr. D. The mood raised a bit as Percy was surrounded by Hermes' Cabin, Annabeth by Athena's and Grover by satyrs who were admiring his new searcher's license, but everyone seemed to be avoiding the elephant in the room.

Then Mr. D gave a speech.

"Yes, yes, so the three little brats didn't get themselves killed and will get an even bigger head. I hope his stay in the hospital will stop the fourth one from doing the same, but I don't think it would be soft enough to grow anyway."

That quickly lifted the mood of everyone. Sure, Naruto was in the hospital, but he was still alive!

"Yeah yeah, hurray for that. Now, in other announcements, there will be no—"

IIIII

Naruto arrived back a few days after the trio, right the day after the summer solstice. It was a subdued thing, really. He arrived in his car, that now had a picture of a Pegasus in orange on the doors, together with a new kid. Elliot Platoon.

Elliot was a short and scrawny kid around his age, with black hair in a ponytail and red eyes behind sunglasses, wearing a black vest and pants and his face always scowling. He looked like a wannabe biker.

Really, he wasn't fooling anyone who ever saw him before. But Naruto doubted he really wanted to.

Elliot waited as Naruto got the car locked and went to the camp on his crutches, he was still not feeling good enough to walk properly, and followed the blond. Any excuse to avoid getting there as long as he could.

"Do you need a tour?" Naruto asked politely.

"No. Let's just get this over with. Or started with. I hate you and Jackson so much right now."

"Oi! I know Percy defeated you, but what did _I_ do?"

"More like what you _will_ do. I _know_ what you're planning to let Jackson evade my curse!"

Naruto gave him a teasing grin. "Thought you'd be proud though. Isn't the saying that 'all is fair in love and war'?"

"Yeah, yeah, throw it in my face will you," Elliot grumbled.

"If it makes you feel any better, I was planning on doing it anyway even without the curse."

"It doesn't!"

Naruto decided to ignore him for now, giving the keys and documents of the car to Argus, making it now officially a camp property – it was not like he had the documentation to own it legally anyway.

They walked past the tree, entering the camp for real. There, waiting for them, were Chiron and Mr. D, the last one with a rare smirk in his usually apathetic face.

Elliot just glowered at him.

"Now don't be like that, brother. I'm sure you will _really_ enjoy your time here with your children…"

Elliot's expression softened… only to tighten again at Dionysus' next words.

"…under _my and Chiron's_ command."

"Naruto, everyone was worried about you," Chiron said. "They must be having lunch right now, why don't you go meet with them?"

Naruto nodded, and with a second nod to Mr. D he started walking with his crutches to the dinner pavilion.

"Uzumaki," Mr. D called him. Naruto stopped on his way and turned a bit to look at his back, confused. Did he do something wrong already?

"…you did a good job. It was a stupid thing you pulled in the end, but it's not like I can expect much more from you."

"Thank you," Naruto said, accepting the backhanded compliment for the compliment it actually was.

The way to the pavilion was a bit long this time, since he couldn't go too fast. But it was worth it, to see everyone's faces brightening.

Well, for a couple of seconds before an Annabeth-shaped missile hit him, throwing him to the ground, Percy and Grover right behind her.

Percy glaring furiously at him, by the way.

"Tell me one reason not to punch you right now."

Naruto shrugged. "Doctor orders?" Technically healing used his life energy, he guessed, so it wasn't actually a lie.

With a sigh, Percy and Grover helped him make Annabeth let go for him to stand up.

"Naruto, why are there hand marks in your neck?" Grover asked, confused.

"Well, let's just say that when someone tells Temie that it is only safe to strangle someone for a minute she is still willing to do it for over fifty seconds."

Thankfully Hades was too terrified of Artemis' reaction at the time to fulfill his own strangling threat.

"Naruto… could we talk later? Alone?" Annabeth asked in a low tone only the four were able to hear.

Percy felt a weight in his stomach, but had no idea what it could be.

"Uhm, sure?" Naruto answered, confused. "Will it take long? We do have curfew, and I can't walk very fast for now."

"Don't worry, it won't take long. And the three of us will be able to help you go to your cabin afterwards anyway."

The weight in Percy's stomach disappeared… then it became annoyance. "Oi, what's the big idea of making plans for me and Grover without telling us first?"

"Well, I'm telling you now," Annabeth replied, just as annoyed.

Naruto and Grover turned away and the two smiled. Sometimes things are good not changing.

IIIII

"I'd like to apologize," Annabeth said.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"I… I've been a terrible person, both to you and Percy. You said yourself, I treated you badly when you arrived, expecting you to be what you were not. I betrayed your trust and used you as bait in the Capture the Flag game, something that is done all the time so it wasn't even a special game. I saw you in the harshest light during the quest and even convinced the others to leave you behind. And even after you confronted your fear of ghosts to help us I got angry because I thought you were not willing to help Percy save his mother, something that I'd have no right to ask of you knowing your fear even if you hadn't done the exact opposite as soon as you got the chance."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Eh, I'm not blameless either. I was kind of an ass at the start, and even in the end I should have trusted you guys to bring back the helm instead of just following my hard head and running away with Mrs. Jackson."

"To be fair," Percy interrupted, "thinking about it now Grover, Chiron and Luke were the only ones who treated us well at the beginning, and later Luke even left you alone to focus on me when we were claimed, so it's not like you had no reason."

"And after what I did and convinced the others to do, seriously you were right, taking Percy to the arc was stupid, we can't say much about not trusting us or thinking things through," Annabeth added.

Grover nodded.

"I mean," the girl continued, "I know that we must have looked like amateurs for you since you said you are a trained child-soldier, so we can't blame you for thinking we couldn't—"

"Wait, why are you saying that like if it was special?" Naruto interrupted her.

"Uh?"

Naruto and Annabeth looked at each other, both confused for different reasons.

"Why do you talk like I was the only one here trained to be a soldier? I mean, you've been here at camp since seven and barely left. Is training that much different the rest of the year?"

The girl blinked. "No, but it adds normal school classed, but what do you mean? We are not trained to be child-soldiers!"

"Weapon training. Both close and long range. Weekly combat simulations. Riding. Athletics. The 'arts and crafts' is basically weapon and armor. Cabin inspections. Greek and greek mythology, which is where most of you enemies come from. Sure, you have some free time to relax and raise morale, but most activities are either focused or useful for combat. It is not so different from my own initial training.

I mean, sure, it is so you can defend yourselves against monsters, but to do that you _are_ being trained like soldiers."

"I see…" and she _could_ see. Yes, they were trained more to survive monsters than to fight for something or someone, but the training was all there… and _weren't_ they actually trained to fight for someone, the only thing stopping an actual war inside the camp because their _divine parents_ were taking sides was they delivering the Master Bolt in time…

"But you seemed so much more experienced than even Annabeth…" Grover said.

"That's because I _am_ more experienced. Or maybe she is just rusted. I mean, she may have fought for her life when she was young, but since then she had been here for years. This was her first mission since then. I doubt I was better than her during my first actual mission. I mean, I _froze_ when we met our first actual enemy."

Three sets of eyes stared at him.

"You want to hear about it, don't you," Naruto said, shoulders slumping.

Three nods followed the question.

"Why not… I wasn't there for some of it, I was just told about it. Who knows, it could give Percy some ideas since Zabuza and Haku used water jutsus. I mean, I doubt you can do Water Clones, but maybe the Water Needles I was told Haku used before I got there.

So, for a while after graduating and becoming actual soldiers, we were doing missions that were little more than chores to try to make sure we worked well together… and well, they weren't really working. It was my fault really, trying to compete with Sasuke and doing the harder parts by myself. Plus, you know, we were fully-trained soldiers and were wasting our time with the hardest mission we had being looking for a cat that ran away. So me and the other two were a bit angry at our teacher and village leader, so I ran out of patience and—"

IIIII

That was a long day. All the way by car on the road with "Elliot", then arriving right before dinner and talking about the Wave mission with the quest guys…

Naruto entered his tent besides cabin 8… only to be knocked to the floor by some irritated Felynes.

"Uhm, hi guys… I just arrived from my long-lasting mission."

"We noticed," replied Ace. "We also noticed the others arrived much earlier than you."

"Yeah… I kinda got hurt and the doctor forbid me to use the energy I use to summon you guys until I'm realed. I can barely walk for now." He raised the crutches as proof.

The felynes stared at him for a while… and then Ace tsked and they turned back to what they were doing before. From the looks of it, they were training.

"Something appeared for you while you were out," Ace waved his hand to something big wrapped in silver cloth in the back of the tent.

"Cool, thanks!" Naruto said, going to check the Plesioth. It wasn't smelling much, but it seemed like it wasn't carved either, probably she used some divine magic after he left to keep it just as when they killed him until it was unwrapped—

Wait a second, _when_ did he kill it with her?

Naruto stopped right in front of it, feeling weird. He remembered fighting the monster, but he also remembered that in the desert running from the wyvern couple at the same time. What was going on?

He noticed a message on it. The message he wrote. He remembered every word he wrote even before opening it, and there it was inside, just like he remembered.  
Which made no sense, since he remembered, and the message also said, that the one that helped defeat it and wrote the message had been a _clone_.

He sat on the bed, thinking. Now that he paid attention to it, it was not just that clone whose memories he had, it was just the only one that was distinct enough from his normal memories to notice. And he doubted he would have noticed if not for the fact the clone made him remember something he never met himself.

"Ok, this could be useful… now that I know those memories are there, maybe I can find a way to know them as soon as the clones burst?  
Too bad I can't try it out for a while though…"

With no other way to try to figure out how it works, Naruto laid down and fell asleep

IIIII

"Hey Grover!" Naruto yelled under the sounds of the fireworks to the satyr.

It was the last day of Grover at camp. The day he would start his journey, his search for Pan.

"Naruto, where have you been? I just said my goodbyes to Percy and Annabeth, but I couldn't find you!"

"Yeah, sorry. But I had to ask the guys from Hephaestus' cabin to make a quick change in my parting gift for you. I don't know how Celestial Bronze changes a blunt weapon, but it should allow the mist to let you hide it as a more normal instrument."

Curious, Grover just watched as Naruto gave him something that looked like an enormous wooden pipe with both tips covered in tied furry pink leather, the bigger one with a yellowish ball in the middle, and five smaller drums looking just like the bigger opening around it.  
Looking better at the neck of the pipe, it was cleat that is was also a giant fife

The point that drew his attention though was that the wooden part seemed to be covered in a bronze-like varnish, letting it still seem wooden but having a bronze coloring and glow.

"This is a Battle Horn. It works as both an instrument and a weapon. Thought it could be useful for you."

"It's heavy…" Grover said as he held it himself, he doubted he would be able to move very well holding it.

"Yeah, it is a bit hard to move with it by yourself… but if you play this song here," Naruto proceeded to swing the instrument and play a small song, giving Grover an idea of how the instrument is actually used, "it makes it much easier to move. Give it a try."

Grover proceeded to do just that, and was amazed at how light and smooth he could feel his movements.

"It comes with a small list of songs… and if you have someone you consider an ally close by, this Movement song is the only one that does not also affects them, and _only_ those you consider allies. I have no idea how it works though.  
This one is called the War Bongo. It is not that great one on the offense, but the songs it comes from are, besides the movement one, mostly defensive and support ones. I figured that since you don't like to fight I'd give you one that is better for helping others."

"Thank you Naruto," Grover said, accepting the instrument-weapon. It was both for his protection and to protect others, allowing him to use it for his satyr magic and magic of its own. He would use it wisely during his quest.

Naruto gave him a last firm pat on his shoulder before walking back to camp.

More confident than ever, Grover crossed the tree into the outside world.

IIIII

Percy was going to take a last-minute training at the lake. Ever since Naruto told them the story of his first mission he has been trying to copy the water abilities he described.

Walking on water was not that hard, but he was not the only descendant of Poseidon who was supposed to do it anyway. He couldn't really trap anyone on water though, he couldn't make the tension hard enough (Annabeth's words), but maybe he could find other uses for it? No one had no idea how he could make water clones look realistic and move by themselves either. That giant water cannon thing and the water dragon were definitely too much for him for now too.  
Water needles were the opposite problem. Give him a water bottle and his aim was almost as good as a child of Apollo. The problem was that he couldn't make the thin shape for them, or the few times he did he couldn't make them stay after the hit, it was just a very strong bullet-sized punch. Yes, good weapon for an emergency distance attack, but still not enough to be called mastered. And, as he saw once, they _could_ hurt him (even though, being made of water, he healed fast with that same water).

He tried training some more, but that wasn't enough. His mind wouldn't leave the prophecy. The betrayal from a friend… Of the four people at Camp, three with Grover gone, that he could _really_ call a friend, only one he could believe would be the betrayer. Naruto almost died for his mother, and Annabeth was with him all the way. Luke went out of his way to train him before _and after_ his quest, almost as if expecting the quest to happen… and all of Naruto's points…

On the other hand, why _would_ he train Percy if he wanted to betray him? Why didn't he do something else yet?

With a sigh, Percy filled a water bottle, a thin plastic one that he knew his attack could pierce in an emergency, and went to take a walk through the camp. This was his last day there after all.

He looked at his beaded necklace, with his first one, a black one with a green trident and a silver moon. A symbol of both the arrival of a son of Poseidon and the very first actual child of Artemis. The moon would have been more important, but Percy also completed a quest that needed escaping the Underworld, while Naruto couldn't leave there before the quest had been completed.

Percy thought it a bit unfair, since he had divine help, but Naruto himself agreed that Percy deserved to be in the bead.

He passed a group of daughters of Aphrodite being helped by Argus and Naruto. Weird, whenever he wasn't looking the girls seemed annoyed at the boy for some reason.

Arriving at the arena, he saw Luke himself training. He was cutting the training dummies with an ease he never saw from a bronze sword on non-mystical material before. His face was concentrated on a fierce battle, as if imagining himself surrounded by enemies. In less than a minute the dummies were little more than a pile of straw and armor.

Percy wondered how someone so good with a sword could have failed his quest.

Then how he would be able to win if he was really a traitor.

Luke stopped middle-swing, finaly noticing his audience. "Hey, Percy!"

"Hi," Percy lamely answered back.

"Just doing some last-minute practice."

"Those dummies won't be bothering anybody anymore," Percy joked.

"We build new ones every summer," Luke answered with a shrug.

Percy then noticed his sword. It seemed like it was made of two different metals, one side the usual celestial bronze, the other what he could only compare to normal steel.

"Oh, this?" Luke asked when he caught Percy's attention on the blade. "New toy. This is Backbiter."

"Backbiter?" That name filled Percy with dread. It would be just a weird name, but Naruto planted the seeds of doubt into his mind, and a sword named after striking someone on the back did _not_ make him feel better.

"One side is celestial bronze. The other is tempered steel. Works on mortals and immortals both," Luke explained, moving it so it glinted in the light.

The way he said it… it sounded to Percy like he planned to use it on mortals… something they were supposed to avoid at all costs.

Was he being paranoid? Seeing problems where there were none?

"I didn't know they could make weapons like that, only coat normal weapons with some celestial bronze…"

"They probably can't. It's one of a kind," Luke said with a smile, sliding the sword in its scabbard. "Listen, I was going to come looking for you. What do you say we go down to the woods one last time, look for something to fight?"

Percy thought about it. On one hand, he really wanted to believe in Luke, and the fact they had been distant ever since he arrived from the quest put a bad taste on his mouth. Percy thought he could be envious of all the attention, this could be his attempt to apologize? On the other hand, they would be alone. If he _was_ the traitor, this would be his best chance to act against him, alone while most people were on the other side of camp.

"You think it's a good idea? "I mean—"

"Aw, come on," Luke said as if to convince him, pulling a six-pack of cokes from his bag that was on the side. "Drinks are on me."

Percy looked at the cokes, wondering where he got them since there was no way to get regular mortal soda cans inside camp, and no way to smuggle them outside convincing a satyr or something like that. On the other hand, the magic goblets at dinner gave a good pretend version, but it lacked the sugar and caffeine of a real coke…

He made his choice. Either he would alienate Luke or miss the chance of finding the real traitor if he said no, and if he said yes he got coke either way! "Sure. Why not?"

IIIII

Naruto was surrounded by the Aphrodite girls, his clones carrying their things since the girls insisted so much in talking to him he couldn't concentrate.

For some reason seeing the clones made the older girls stare a bit then start to blush.

The girls stopped trying to all talk with Naruto at once and seemed to choose some sort of spokeswoman, an Asian girl with pink eyeliner named Drew. He was a bit disappointed really, while it would make it easier to talk with them he kinda liked trying to learn the different personalities by the way the girls talked.

For some reason every time he answered a girl the one he was talking to before seemed disappointed or something. The only one that didn't seem frustrated was the older one, Silena, that today had black hair and blue eyes. She seemed to be having fun just watching them talk.

Their behavior reminded him of _something_ … something he was kind of used to seeing for a while, but he couldn't put his finger on it right now…

"—ruto? Naruto dear?" Drew called, waving her manicured hand in front of his face, and some kind of victorious smirk on her face?

"Oh, sorry. I was trying to remember something, I'm sorry for ignoring you," he said in an apologetic tone, rubbing the back of his head.

"Was that something about me?" she replied, a teasing tone in her voice, pressing herself to his arm.

"Uhm, sorry, not really…"

"You don't need to be shy, you know hon…"

"I'm not shy," Naruto answered, a bit offended. "I just wasn't thinking about you… well, not in particular."

This resulted in an angry Drew glaring at him, then at the snickering girls around them.

"Don't worry about it," Silena said, her arm around his shoulders, her resting on the side of his body opposite to Drew. "She is just disappointed something she was trying to do didn't work.  
Hey, I don't think you ever visited the stables. I'm one of the responsible for them."

"Yeah, I don't have much experience riding even a normal horse, much less a winged one."

"You should visit us there next year, I'll teach you!"

"Sure," Naruto shrugged.

For some reason, that talk filled most of the other girls with admiration for the older one, and Drew seemed to be a bit resentful? Naruto had no idea if he would ever be able to get women, even if he could turn into one…

IIIII

"I think you should try without me…" Clarisse said as respectfully as she could while sitting in the back of the person she was talking to.

"No!"

"At least use someone lighter!"

She was ignored.

Clarisse sighed. She could understand her f—Elliot wanting to develop his muscles as fast as he could, but he was forcing himself too much, this would only give him pain and problems. He had to do it in steady increments.

But she knew he was too stubborn to listen. _Everyone_ in the cabin was, including herself…

IIIII

After looking for a while but finding no monster to fight, the two guys sat on some rocks by the creek, near where Percy was ambushed by the Ares kids looking for Naruto. Both drank their can of coke, but Percy still kept his bottle of water in his pocket.

"You miss being on a quest?" Luke asked after a while.

"With monsters attacking me every three feet? Are you kidding? …Yeah, I miss it. It was an adventure like I never had before. It was very nervous at the time, with my life in danger and the lives of so many in my hands, but now that it is over I can say that it was awesome.  
And you?"

Luke's face did not change visibly, but it did not need to. Percy could feel the change in the air itself. It was dark and angry.

"I've lived at Half-Blood Hill year-round since I was fourteen. Ever since Thalia… well, you know. I trained, and trained, and trained. I never got to be a normal teenager, out there in the real world. Then they threw me one quest, and when I came back, it was like, 'Okay, ride's over. Have a nice life.'"

He crumpled the can in his hand and threw it in the river. This should have shocked Percy. Usually campers did their best not to litter to avoid punishments from the nature spirits. But he got the gist of it already. Luke did not plan to stay in camp to be punished.

Naruto had been right.

"The heck with laurel wreaths. I'm not going to end up like those dusty trophies in the Big House attic."

"So, is this goodbye?"

Luke looked at Percy, surprised. "You figured it out, uh? Guess you aren't as thick as I thought."

He snapped his fingers, and a small fire burned a hole in the ground near Percy. From the hole, a black scorpion crawled out.

Percy's hand went to his pocket.

"I wouldn't," Luke stopped him. "Pit scorpions can jump up to fifteen feet. Its stinger can pierce right through your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds."

Luke stood up and brushed off his jeans calmly, discounting Percy as a threat. The scorpion crawled on harry's shoe.

"I saw a lot out there in the world, Percy. Didn't you feel it – the darkness gathering, the monsters growing stronger? Didn't you realize how useless it all is? All the heroics – being pawns of the gods. They should have been overthrown thousands of years ago, but they have hung on, thanks to us halfbloods."

"Luke… you are talking about our parents."

"That's supposed to make me love them?" Luke laughed. "Their precious 'Western civilization' is a disease, Percy. It is killing the world. The only way to stop it is to burn it to the ground, start over with something more honest."

"You're as crazy as Ares," Percy said calmly, coming to a decision.

"Ares is a fool," Luke replied, contempt in his voice. "He never realized the true master he was serving. If I had time, Percy, I could explain. But I'm afraid you won't live that long."

The scorpion crawled onto Percy's pants leg. Percy gritted his teeth, preparing himself to act. Hopefully he would be able to ignore the pain.

"Do you mean Kronos?" Percy said trying to be as neutral as possible, hoping that would irritate him.

It seemed to work. The air got colder.

"You should be careful with names," Luke warned. It seemed like he was trying to hide fear of the name's owner.

"Kronos got you to steal the master bolt and the helm. He spoke to you in your dreams."

"He spoke to you, too, Percy. You should've listened."

"He's brainwashing you, Luke."

"You're wrong. He showed me that my talents are being wasted. You know what my quest was two years ago, Percy? My father, Hermes, wanted me to steal a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides and return it to Olympus. After all the training I'd done, that was the best he could think up."

"That's not an easy quest. Hercules did it as one of his twelve works, the ones he was supposed to fail. If one of the most famous demigods had trouble—"

"You are missing the point. Where is the glory in repeating what others have done? All the gods know how to do is replay their past."

"You are being kinda unfair. If there wasn't a need for you to do something but you still wanted to, you should be happy you got a quest at all!"

"Then he should have left me without a quest, instead of giving me a worthless one! Thanks to that, my heart wasn't in it. The dragon in the garden gave me this," he said, pointing at his scar, "and when I came back all I got was pity. I wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone right then, but I bided my time."

"You knew it was a hard mission. And the ones that pitied you were campers, not the Olympians. Why are you blaming them?"

Luke's face turned red, but he ignored Percy's comments to continue his rant.

"I began to dream of Kronos. He convinced me to steal something worthwhile, something no hero had ever had the courage to take. When we went on that winter-solstice field trip, while the other campers were asleep, I snuck into the throne room and took Zeus's master bolt right from his chair. Hades's helm of darkness, too. You wouldn't believe how easy it was; the Olympians are so arrogant they never dreamed someone would dare steal from them. Their security is horrible."

'So he was right, the mentioning of having to be invisible was to make us suspect Annabeth…'

The scorpion reached Percy's knee. Percy didn't know how much better a shot he could have.

Without Luke or the scorpion noticing, the water in Percy's bottle began to shrink.

"I was halfway across New Jersey before I heard the storms rumbling, and I knew they'd discovered my theft."

"So why didn't you bring the items to Kronos?" Percy asked, his voice as level as he could.

"I… I got overconfident," Luke admitted, the smile escaping his face. "Zeus sent out his sons and daughters to find the stolen bolt: Artemis, Apollo, Athena, my father. But it was Ares who caught me.  
I could have beaten him, but I wasn't careful enough." Luke seemed pretty sure of that. Sure, he had been able to do it, but it was actually just one cut, and Percy doubted Luke would be left alone just with that.

"He disarmed me, took the items of power, and threatened to return them to Olympus and burn me alive. Then Kronos's voice came to me and told me what to say. I put the idea in Ares's head about a great war between the gods. I said all he had to do was hide the items away for a while and watch the others fight. Ares got a wicked gleam in his eyes. I knew he was hooked. He let me go, and I returned to Olympus before anyone noticed my absence."

That didn't fit what Ares said during their fight… Was it possible Luke himself was being manipulated?  
…That would make even more important that Percy caught him, didn't it?

Luke himself drew his sword and ran his thumb along the flat, as if admiring it.

"After that, the Lord of the Titans… h-he punished me with nightmares. I swore not to fail again. Back at Camp Half-Blood, in my dreams, I was told that a second hero would arrive, one who could be tricked into taking the bolt and the helm the rest of the way – from Ares down to Tartarus.

It was a surprise when a second and a _third_ arrived, actually. But despite shaking things up a bit, Naruto didn't seem to be a trouble for our plans."

'That's what you think,' thought Percy. In his pocket, the water bottle was only waiting for an opportunity. The scorpion walked up his thigh.

"You summoned the hellhound, that night in the forest," he said outwards.

"We had to make Chiron think the camp wasn't safe for you, so he would start you on your quest. We had to confirm his fears that Hades was after you. And it worked."

"The flying shoes were cursed. They were supposed to drag me and the backpack into Tartarus."

"And they would have, if you'd been wearing them. But you gave them to the satyr, which wasn't part of the plan. Grover messes up everything he touches. He even confused the curse."

"Don't blame him, it was a stupid plan. The reason I gave it to Grover is that Chiron was right beside me and said as soon as you left that since the airs are Zeus' domain I would not be able to use them. Wait, no. I knew it right from the start and asked him just to be sure."

"Those were sandals from Hermes! They were not affected by Zeus!"

"Well, you should have _told_ us instead of expected us to know it then."

Luke just glared angrily at Percy. To be honest, that was the only weak point of Naruto's "Luke is the traitor" theory (now confirmed). 'Sorry Annabeth, seems like Luke _is_ that dumb deep inside.'

"Well, don't worry. My little friend will set things right. And this time there is no satyr to mess with my plan."

"I _just told you_ how your plan was stupid."

Luke was angry, and Percy was sure he would give the command soon. But the scorpion was still a distance from the height of the bottle, and the closer they were the better for him.

"Thalia gave her life to save you. And this is how you repay her?"

"Don't speak of Thalia!" Luke shouted in anger. "The gods let her die! That's one of the many things they will pay for."

"The gods let everyone die Luke. Normal mortals, demigods… Thalia was turned into a tree instead of dying of her wounds, meaning that if she could be healed she can be turned back."

"This could be worse! If she is sleeping, she may be sleeping forever. At least by dying she would reincarnate. If she is aware, she is either in darkness without being able to move or seeing the people that pass through her without being able to move, and if no one gets her out she will be doing it forever too!"

Percy gulped. That _did_ sound like a terrible thing to live through, even if he was sure Zeus wished it to be a good thing…

"Even so, you _know_ her father didn't do it to torture her, but to save her as much as he could. You're being used, Luke. You and Ares both. Don't listen to Kronos."

"I've been used?" Luke asked in a piercing voice. "Look at yourself. What has your dad ever done for you? Ever since he left your mother before you were born, did you ever see him, hear a word from him about how much he loves you, or how proud he is? Did he ever do something for your mother to make it easier for her to care for you, did he ever act like she was more than a conquest and brood mare? Did he even give you congratulations for finishing the quest for him? I know he didn't. All you got from him is the sword Chiron gave you. A _weapon_ , a tool just like you are to him. Everything he gave you, did for you, was just so you could do what he wanted you to. He sees you as a soldier, not a son!"

Percy's eyes widened. Was Luke right? Was his mother just made to conceive him, abandoned to the hands of Gabe after fulfilling her use? Was he just a pawn for his father? Naruto said that they were trained just like a soldier like him, was that all they were to the gods?

Well, considering Aphrodite's children, most gods?

But then Percy remembered. The feeling he always felt from the sea of acceptance. The smile and warm eyes he remembered from his father, even if from what his mother said they had never met.

No. He may never have met his father, but he _knew_ he loved him!

But it was clear to him that Luke did not feel the love of his own father… Was it his anger for Thalia? Was it Kronos manipulating him? Either way, Percy's ang'r turned into pity…

"Kronos will rise. You've only delayed his plans. He will cast the Olympians into Tartarus and drive humanity back to their caves. All except the strongest-the ones who serve him."

"Is that so? Then call off the bug. If you're so strong, fight me yourself"

"Nice try, Percy," Luke said with a smile. "But I'm not Ares. You can't bait me. My lord is waiting, and he's got plenty of quests for me to undertake. Goodbye, Percy."

Percy took this as a sign.

Before Luke could understand what happened, the water bottle _exploded,_ a spear of high-pressure water ripping it apart, together with the scorpion and a chunk of Percy's thigh. A small chunk, but enough to be extremely painful.

Trying his best to ignore the pain, Percy advanced, unsheathing Riptide. Surprised, Luke jumped back but still got a cut on his chest, as shallow as it was.

Percy tried to take advantage of it, but Luke was able to block the next swing with Backbiter, and kicked Percy back, the wounded leg giving out and Percy losing his balance and falling down.

Even so, he was able to roll back up in time to avoid Luke's slice.

"I admit, that surprised me. I mean, you even blew up a chunk of your own leg! But I doubt you can do it again that soon, and now I know you can do it."

Percy said nothing, adjusting his grip on Riptide and kicking the ground with the hurt leg. The same water that caused the damage was numbing a bit of the pain and healing it, even if slowly. If he went into the creek he would probably heal much faster, but he doubted Luke would give him the chance, and even if he did find a way the older boy would probably take the breathing room to escape.

"Don't get cocky just because you defeated Ares though. He underestimated you. And I _trained_ you. I know how you fight better than yourself. I know all your tells, all your openings."

Percy tightened his grip in Riptide, while Luke took a stance with Backbiter.

And then they _lunged_.


	12. Rhapsody

**So, through the Lore series I found out that the Monster Hunter 4 world is called Minegarde. This is said nowhere as far as I found in the games, though, as well as about the Wyvern Wars (that according to the video may probably be canon) so…  
While the characters will still call them the Hunting Grounds until this is found out, at least now we can call it the true name (as well as the Olympians' Domain is called the Ocidental Civilization).**

 **For the guest that asked about chakra colors, yellow and red are the canon Naruto and Kurama chakra colors, as shown when Naruto purifies the chakra cloak and it turns yellow.. Silver is from the divine energy he got from Artemis.**

 **Also thanks for The Sorrowful Deity for reminding me of Kirigakure no Jutsu, without it this battle would be much more one-sided.**

IIIII

Luke was right. He knew how Percy fought. He _taught_ Percy most of how he fought.

He only got Ares because of an attack he didn't expect.

And to make matters worse, he had a wounded leg. As soon as he took the first step after the lunge he would be at a disadvantage.

So he did something Luke could not expect, because it was a stupid but desperate idea he would never do if he was fighting at his best like when he was trained.

So, as soon as his foot was going to touch the ground and himself and Luke would get close enough to actually battle… it didn't.  
Percy let himself fall prone.

Surprised, Luke was barely able to block the rising slice of Riptide. But block he did.

Percy rolled in the direction of the creek, but soon was forced to stop and twist his body to block Backbiter.  
He was grounded and unable to stand… this plan was so much better in his head.

So now he was in trouble. He was not able to stand up. His body was a big target for Luke's blade. And the only attack he could do consistently with water needed some time and concentration.

But at least it could be a distraction?

Luke twisted his swing before it reached Percy, putting the blade between himself and the creek. Just as Percy hoped, he blocked the weak water jet as if it was strong like the one he used before. It wasn't, it was barely a shot from a super soaker.

Percy took advantage of the distraction to roll in direction of the water. He pulled his legs to his body after rolling despite the pain, that would lower the areas Luke could hit him and also add some protection to his abdomen and the lower part of his chest. By using his legs as shields, but you can't have everything.

Angry at being fooled, Luke advanced again to attack Percy, who was holding his blade more awkwardly due to his position but was no less likely to do his best to fight for his survival. He did an upward swing, hoping to cut Percy between the ribs. Percy did his best to block the attack, but was sent rolling by its force.

Sprawled even more awkwardly, he started trying to crawl. Luke raised his sword, ready to use it to pierce Percy's back, confident he had no more ways to fight back. He had no way to use his sword properly, and unlike with the scorpion he had no way to distract him to charge a proper water jet.

He almost sighed when he felt the water moving.

Expecting the next water attack to be as weak as before, he was surprised that it pushed him back as if it was a strong punch, then grabbed Percy and pulled him to the water.

"So you're still learning to control your water powers and they are used by themselves when you get desperate," Luke concluded, annoyed. "And here I was talking about Ares underestimating you."

But Percy did not answer. He stood up slowly and painfully, the leg clearly still healing but getting better as Luke got closer. He had no way of winning and he knew it – Luke was better with a sword, and was aware enough of the water now not to let it hit him again. Maybe if he fought in the water he would have a better chance, but Luke would never let him… damn it, Luke was already leaving when he attacked him back! _He_ would need to be the one to be on the offensive if he wanted to keep Luke here until help arrived not to let the traitor escape.

But he had no idea _how_! All he could do was use his sword, and at this distance only if he _threw_ it, his instinctive water "fists" he used on Nancy Bobofit at the fountain in the museum and now on Luke and himself, and the water spear he learned from Naruto's story about the Mist… ninja…

He glared at Luke, hoping the older boy would give him the chance he needed.

"Well, it has been fun, but time for me to go. See you later Percy, hopefully next time you will be well enough to be an actual challenge."

Luke began spinning his sword slowly, making what looked like a shadow trail from it. By the movement Percy knew he was going to complete a circle and whatever he was doing would be over, so he went with the desperate choice.

He threw Riptide.

Luke stopped what he was doing and jumped to the side, avoiding the sword and letting the shadow fade… Then looked at Percy and raised an eyebrow. 'Really?', Percy could hear him saying without any words.

But Percy did not care, for now it was time for the _really_ risky part.

Combining the two water powers he had ever used, he made a water platform under his feet… and used a jet of water to throw it, and him, at Luke at high speed.

Or rather, _past_ Luke.

Just as Percy hoped, Luke avoided him by instinct instead of cutting the body, allowing Percy to fall besides Riptide. It was a risk, and a big one, but the gamble worked. He was up, healed as well as possible, armed, and Luke was still there.

And there was a pool of water in the ground.

Percy quickly raised his hand, hoping it worked.

It did. The water in the ground rose and dispersed, turning into mist around Luke. And so did some from the creek. Before their eyes they were surrounded by the water in the air, and Luke was blinded by a thick mist.

 _Luke_ was blinded.

Percy did not actually _see_ under water, he _sensed_ everything. And mist is basically water in the air. And so, like he hoped, he could sense Luke perfectly as if he was seeing him in daylight, maybe even better.

Confident, he attacked Luke's sword-arm.

Unfortunately, Luke blocked Riptide. Easily.

Yes, Luke was blinded. Yes, Percy was technically still surrounded by water, which improved his abilities, and was _not_ blinded.

Even so, Luke had five years of training against Percy's mere months, and unlike Zabuza Percy had no ability to move silently.

Percy had his water improvement. Luke had his other four senses and fighting experience.

His own attack was blocked, but to Percy's surprise it got much closer than his own had.

He did not get a win ticket. All he had been able to do was diminish their gap so he had a chance.

But Percy was not fighting to win, he was fighting both to survive and to keep Luke in place until more competent help arrived. While Luke wanted to either get the time to leave or to kill Percy so he had no obstacle to do so.

They were not able to tell how long they fought. Percy's arms were burning, while Luke's head was red with so much concentration he was being forced to take. But as the fight progressed and they got more tired, their divide increased. Percy was barely standing, while Luke was being pushed but could go on for a while.

And thus Percy made a stupid mistake. A badly-done attack, that ended with Luke doing a disarming move and throwing Riptide to the air.

And with Percy without a weapon to defend himself yet close enough to be attacked, Luke pushed Backbiter through his chest.

The mist turned back into water and fell to the ground.

It wasn't the middle. It wasn't in the heart. But it went right through the lung, and even if Percy survived he would be chocking on his own blood. He would have no hope of reaching the creek by himself, and the mist was not enough to save him. Maybe even the creek would not be enough.

Desperate, Percy begged the water for help. And once more it answered.

Luke was still aware enough to avoid the water fist, twisting out of its way and ripping Backbiter from Percy, opening the wound even more. What he did not expect was that the water held Riptide. Or that Percy still had strength enough despite his mortal wound for one last strike.

The blade pierced his left eye, going past the bone before cutting to the front of his face. It was not a deadly strike, but he was disfigured forever, and the eye was unsalvageable.

Luke was incensed!

Not just at Percy, but at himself, that despite his own words kept thinking the boy was done for only to be proven wrong.

But it was Percy he was fighting, and so he went for another blow, this time definitely letal.

He was stopped by a loud "crack" sound and a sharp pain in his left arm, while Percy was pushed hard out of his way and into the creek by something orange.

He looked down, at what had hit him and broken his arm.

"A… dumbbell?"

Looking at where the gym material came from he saw what was clearly a shorter and thinner version of Ares. Elliot Platoon.

Surrounded by

"The kid is _mine_ , Castellan," the child-god spat. "Until we have our rematch, he is under my cabin's protection, whether he want it or not."

Luke tsk'ed, and spun his sword. He lost too much already in this battle, both in stamina and physically, to dare fight against Ares, even a depowered one.

Down in the water, Percy tried to fight the blond that was pushing a soggy food that did not taste soggy in his mouth, having a frontline seat to view the escape of Luke Castellan from behing the reddening water.

IIIII

Percy woke up with a straw in his mouth, drinking something that tasted like chocolate chips.

Around him were Annabeth holding the glass of nectar, Argus standing guard, and Chiron and Naruto talking in the corner.

"Here we are again…" Percy said jokingly, before coughing painfully. The left side of his chest felt like it was on fire.

"Don't speak you idiot!" Annabeth admonished, holding a piece of cloth to his mouth. "You are better, but your lung is not fully healed yet. You are lucky Elliot sensed you fighting and bothered enough to tell Naruto in time."

"He is not that bad, Annabeth. Just stupidly proud sometimes," Naruto interrupted. "Something Percy can relate," he added, looking at Percy's green eyes. "Seriously, I am the last one that can say something against fighting a losing battle, but it was still stupid. At least you could have tried to escape and call for help."

"No time," Percy forced out. "He would escape."

Naruto's eyebrows rose. " _He_ was the one trying to escape? Not you? And you were trying to keep him here?"

Percy nodded.

Naruto sighed. He had no idea what to say. On one hand he had suffered without need, on the other it was to try and capture a traitor before he could escape.

"Luke said he was working for Kronos," Percy said when everyone went silent. "We should tell Olympus."

"I will tell Mr. D to warn his father. Rest for now, Jackson. You should be healed when you wake up."

There was more Percy wanted to say. More he wanted to ask. But he had no way to do it, every word was a struggle.

So he did what he was told, and closed his eyes.

"Oh, and Annabeth… whenever you are ready, they are here," he heard Chiron say before leaving.

Confused, Percy opened his eyes, looking at the girl.

"I… took your advice. I wrote my dad a letter… We decided to give it another try."

She stood up, and took her bag.

"When we come back next summer, we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval we sneak off and do it anyway. Deal?"

Percy nodded, then turned to the side when he heard a "deal".

Both he and Annabeth looked surprised at Naruto.

"Look, we did not start on the right foot… but you two and Grover grew up on me. We are a team now. And if you guys are going to fight Luke I will be there helping you.  
By the way, before I leave, I have something for Percy."

He pulled out his scroll, and from it a sword, a lance and a shield.

"I noticed you usually wield Riptide with one hand, so I thought a shield for the other hand was more useful for you than a second blade. The shield also works with the lance. They were supposed to have different shields, but since you'll probably carry them with you instead of choosing one to be used each time I asked The Man, that's how we call him, no I don't know his real name, to make you one usable for both weapons. It is not as good as one made to be used with either a sword or a lance, but it can be used ok with either. …Well, that's what he said, I actually don't know the difference."

Percy just looked at Naruto, but his eyes were screaming "what".

"Oh, well, I heard that Ares cursed you after your battle so that your weapon would fail you. So I asked The Man to make you another sword. Then I wasn't sure it meant just Riptide or any sword so I asked for a lance too. _Then_ I noticed I didn't know if it even had to be a sword, what I heard wasn't clear, so… those are still mine, I am just lending them to you, ok?"

Percy blinked, still confused, but still took the weapons.

The sword was sinuous, with a handguard that seemed like a continuation of the blade. The lance's shaft seemed like made from bone, with a space in the middle that also had a handguard, but the point was a small trident with what looked like web between the tips. And the shield was a circle, with four quadrants of spikes linked by webs anywhere but between the quadrants. If Percy could guess the circle shape was to deflect attacks, while the spaces were to fit the sword… But, just like Naruto, he had no real idea.

All three were bronze-colored, and shone a bit.

"I asked the guys at Hephaestus' cabin to give them a Celestial Bronze cover. It should let them work as well as an actual Celestial Bronze weapon for a while, and if they lose sharpness you should just ask them to fix it.

"Thank—"

"Hey, no talking, remember?" Naruto admonished in a joking tone. "I wasn't there when you needed, so take this as an apology."

"Naruto, you were not there because you—"

"No excuses, Annabeth," Naruto stopped her. "Now, we better get going, and Percy needs to rest." That said, he walked through the door.

"Percy… Annabeth… Take care."

Then, before their eyes, he bit his fingers, made some weird hand movements and pressed his hand on the ground, and his cat Ace appeared… and then began _digging_ _though the ground_. Next thing they saw the ground was repaired, and Naruto and Ace were nowhere to be seen.

"Well, that happened," said Annabeth. "I'm not even surprised anymore."

She turned to Percy with a sad smile.

"I better be going too. See you next year, seaweed brain!"

And thus she was gone.

Percy was left alone. He was a bit sad, but he was too tired to mind right now.

He closed his eyes. Tomorrow he would be home with his mother, but next year he would be back.

IIIII

"Are you sure?" Artemis asked, her eyes sad.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he allows me to also go back to the Hunting Grounds. But… he may not be a parent like you, but he is my godfather and wants to be a part of my life. The least I can do is give him a chance."

"Alright. But do your best not to be corrupted by him, ok? I'll try to find a loophole so you can spend some time with me and my hunters too."

Naruto just rolled his eyes.

They walked together to Konoha, approaching the Uzumaki mask shrine. Seeing it, Naruto remembered something.

"By the way, thanks for the help. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't broke the compulsion in the Lotus Hotel."

"Uhm, I didn't?" Artemis said, confused. "I mean, I would if I could, don't get me wrong, but I can't help you while on a quest, even if you pray to me. And besides that, I have no control over illusions, that's Hecate's field I guess. I thought you did it by yourself?"

Naruto's eyes widened. She couldn't? But… and besides the Lotus Hotel there was also that time at night she improved his vision after him praying, right?

"But what about the whole 'The Moon in the Water' thing? I thought it meant illusions were linked to the moon?" Naruto asked as they went past the shrine. He was sure there was a tale about this or something…

"The greek as far as I know never linked the moon with illusions. Maybe it is something from here?"

"Indeed," sounded an unknown voice male, and Naruto and Artemis turned around, blades in hand, only to be surprised by what they saw.

A floating mask, and cloak. The mask was black, with a silver moon in the middle, and peppered with small points like the stars at night, and with silver light escaping the mouth and eyeholes.

"I am Tsukiyomi, the local moon deity, also associated with the sea, night and sometimes harvest, and thanks to the expression of the moon in the water, with illusions. Hope you don't mind me using your moon as a medium just a bit, but I thought it would be a shame to not be able to help an Uzumaki with relation to my domain."

IIIII

Luke resisted the urge to whimper. The surgery he just went through was without any anesthetics. And it was _painful_.

The only reason he had been able to have it at all was because the had his body locked by the masked man's weird eye.

"I hope you are glad," the voice came, a bit distorted by the mask. "I had to add a bit of artificial skin, muscle and even bone to your face, both to fix the damage and to make his new eye properly usable. It will look like a white scar, but at least it will not look like a hole in your face."

"I am, don't take me wrong… but did you _have_ to do it without any kind of painkilling?"

"...No. I did not," the man said, "but I am not experienced in this kind of operation, so it was best not to add too many variables. Putting you to sleep or numbing the area could add difficulties I am not good enough to deal with. And yes, I am aware that does not speak much of my competence in this area."

Luke could do nothing but sigh.

Then he almost jumped back as a hand held his head in place and another opened the tender new skin surrounding the new eye.

"It seems to be working properly for an eye… now, try to put some chakra in it."

"…some what?"

"Try to add some of your spiritual energy to the eye. The Zetsu skin should convert it into chakra by itself."

Luke did as he was told, concentrating some of the weird energy he felt whenever he used his powers into his eye. His powers were mostly useless for anything but stealing or running away, but if this operation worked…

"Ah, there you go. Just like Kronos thought, mixing the Zetsu's natural chakra conductivity with your divine powers gave you the ability of using chakra even outside the area the Shinju is naturally connected to."

"…What?" Luke asked, confused, while the masked man gave him a mirror to look at his handiwork.

"Oh, nothing you should worry about. In my world, the Elemental Nations, everyone has access to our equivalent of divine powers due to a being that was once linked with the world itself and whose power was eventually shared with our humanity. In other words, we are all sort of legacies of the being called Shinju… and thanks to your new left eye, so are you."

Luke looked at the mirror. His left eye seemed like a color-inverted parody of Zuko from that Avatar cartoon, with a white patch around his eye where the tv character had it angry red.

But what got his attention was the eye. It was red with three comma-like symbols spinning around the pupil.

"The sharingan. It is a bit of a power sink, but the benefits make up for it."

"What benefits exactly?" Luke asked. "Besides paralyzing people."

"Is that not enough? Not that you'll be able to do it for a while," the masked man laughed. "But its main features are its ability to slow down your vision and memorize every detail. At your level it can be said it is near prescient with the way it can analyze the small movements and see what an opponent will probably do. Of course you need to be fast enough to use this warning. And with memorization it means you can copy any useful techniques you see and find useful. …Not that useful here without chakra, I guess.  
Oh, and as you said, when you get better with it you can place illusions and suggestions by eye-contact."

"Seems pretty good… What's the catch?"

"Well, besides the fact Kronos is paying me in favors instead of you being born with it and awakening by being in mortal danger, as I said at this level it is just a power sinkhole."

"…At this level?"

Luke's sharingan was able to notice what his normal eye would not. The man's three commas joined, becoming something like a three-sided ninja star, the tips with a long outside spike giving it a cruel twist, and the pupil became surrounded by a red line in the middle of it.

"Well, there is another level, but to unlock it you'd need to kill your best friend. _That_ level has a catch, unless you get the eyes of a sibling who also has it or have in your body something like the Zetsu skin I put on you it'll slowly get blind as you use the new powers."

Luke said nothing for a while.

"And what do I do after killing her?"

The masked man looked him in the eye. The normal one.

"It changes by itself. But, are you sure you can kill her for power?"

"It has to be for power? If I believe she is suffering a fate worse than death and do it to free her from it will I have to look for a lesser friend?"

The man turned away and began disappearing in a whirlpool in the air, but not before saying the words that set Luke on his next course…

"Personal experience shows that is acceptable."

Luke's breathing stopped.

"Well, is that not a welcome coincidence?" laughed Kronos' ancient voice behind him.

IIIII

Pein's animal path pet the head of the new summon in its collection. The giant chameleon looked back at the body with its Rinnegan eyes.

Pein was even more fascinated with its dragon-like wings. And to think little more than thirteen years ago was when he first met these unusual creatures… his animal summons were on the weird scale, but he could swear these ones could only come from a completely different place.

As much as they obeyed him he could feel they were not his to control.

IIIII

 **Sorry for the short battle, and the short chapter overall. But I had no idea how to expand it much more than this without unnecessary filler.**

 **With the end of this chapter we finish this take on Lightning Thief. I will take some time before writing Sea of Monsters, both to reread the book and for my personal studies.  
So this is in a small hiatus, although it may get some updates with flashbacks and Naruto in Monster Hunter until I am ready for the next book.**

 **Hope you guys had fun with this one! See you next time!**

 **For those curious, the name of the chapter comes from a line in "Bohemian Rhapsody": "So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye".**

 **Fun fact, this chapter was published the last day before the first was deleted from the Document Manager, meaning the first book was finished in 89 days.**

 **[EDIT]**

 **Funnier fact, I had been confused by other fanfics and described the sharingan wrong.**

 **Also, do not worry guys! Luke with a sharingan is** _ **far**_ **from the storm you guys are making.  
What you **_**should**_ **be worried about is that:  
the monsters are out of Pein's control and  
Ares is now the powerless Elliot Platoon.  
These two things, right there, will have a much bigger impact than Luke's fancy slow-mo eye.**


	13. Most Dangerous Monster

**People seem to be** _ **really**_ **disliking me giving Luke a sharingan… I can understand the hate for what soon became the god-mode eye in Shippuden. Don't worry people, it will be a powerful tool, yes, but unless I do it very wrong it will be** _ **far**_ **from the overpowered thing Kishimoto made it to be.  
More talk about it in the ending of the chapter. Because in this one I will show some of the reasons I really gave it to him.**

 **Got a review about last chapter that confused me. Here it is in it's entirely, from Slirith: "** **Ugh nope, gonna stop reading now due to the ending..fuck Akatsuki and any other Elemental Nation bad guy being in crossovers they have no reason being in."  
Not disagreeing with your preferences, but Naruto is clearly a part of **_**both**_ **stories here, since he can travel to** _ **three**_ **different lands, including his canon one. Akatsuki is a canon force in Naruto, so…  
There are many stories where Naruto is forced to be in another world, and you probably thought this was one of these. It isn't, Naruto is a force in all three.  
The only other explanation I can get is Tobi being with Luke, or more generally a villain interacting with another serie's. People seemed to have a problem with it, but more in that he gave Luke a sharingan and, in some cases, that Akatsuki had the support of an actual god (well, titan) than him actually being there. Tobi can travel dimensions in canon, only needed the "address" like when he had to figure out the right place to find Sasuke while fighting Kaguya, so if that's it there is the explanation on how he could do it (the why I will tell later). **_**Why**_ **is another matter that will be explained in the future (and yes, it is already planned).  
But Akatsuki itself like the review implied?**

 **If Slirith could ever return to the story and explain the problem, we could discuss about it. Unfortunately they blocked private messages…**

 **Also, I did warn you guys of chapters about Monster Hunter and flashbacks until we started Sea of Monsters… Although this chapter is a mix of both. I did remember that one of the complaints about last flashback-chapter was that it seemed to have no context with the rest of the story. Nevermind that actual authors do make such chapters from time to time, I combined both the Monster Hunter chapter and the Flashback chapter with a framing device for the flashback that I personally thought more convincing than some of the Shipuuden flashback fillers.  
Warning, this made the chapter be a bit big…**

 **Oh, and about that thing about the Monster Hunter backstory being taken as speculation in one site and fact in another… I found somewhere the actual translations of the Monster Hunter Illustrations artbook that says some of those facts. Such as: the human vs dragons war, called the Great Wyvern War; Monster Hunters are descendants of the supersoldiers Dragon Hunters; there was an ancient civilization that was much more technological advanced on the human side (no info on the dragon side), but history was forgotten and technology regressed save for some big pieces that seem like magic.**

 **That said, this actually mimics much of the story of the fourth member of the crossover. Thus I have decided that yes, it** _ **will**_ **be more relevant, at least near the end.**

IIIII

Naruto grit his teeth as he used his glaive to pole vault over the eyeless monster. While still in the air, he waved it around, cutting through the scales on its back. Maybe the poisoned fangs that made this particular glaive's tip infected it, but he didn't count himself so lucky.

It had been a good day. Their ship, the Arluq, was finally fixed from the beating it got earlier. He even finished hunting a Najarala, a giant golden snake-like monster, that had been blocking the delivery of cooking materials.

Then the Ace Hunters, the strongest Hunter four-man team, was attacked by Gore Magala, the monster that had attacked the Arluq and almost sank it, if not for the rescue from said team. Despite Naruto's efforts, he knew he had no chance of defeating it for real in such a small space and without any knowledge of it.

Two of the team were asking for help to rescue the other two. And while the adults were making the preparations, Ace got in its head that he had to rescue them himself!  
Yes, it had been brave and definitively helped, but if Naruto hadn't left right after him he would just have been a third person (Palico? Cat?) to be rescued.

And thus here he was again against Gore Magala. No preparations, no supplies but the basics he always carries. Just him and Ace against a monster everyone seems to fear.

And monster was definitely the right title for him. He wasn't an elder dragon, thank the kami, but was close enough to one. Black, as the night, eyeless, it apparently "sees" through black spores. While usually walking on four legs, it had a third set of limbs, that were as mobile as the front paws despite the fact it was also a set of wings that allowed it to either fly short distances or dive at high speeds. And the front paws were able to break rock at a strength Naruto could only compare to Tsunade from the shockwave… and judging by the stone pillar it broke with its head not long ago, his dive was not any weaker.

But its greatest weapon was that it exhaled a dark purple mist, that he also lighted used as a light purple fireball. By itself, not much… but it was the vector of a disease. Called the Frenzy Virus, it weakens anyone that is infected. Unlike a usual disease, it has an incubating phase like a parasite, and when the incubation is over the strength of the infected is not affected much… but it overtaxes the body, worsening every damage. And for someone already infected, a second dose is much more letal, either worsening the effects of the attack or slowly corroding their health.

And guess what, Naruto was infected by it.

He could sense all his nerves burning as if someone had injected pepper in his veins, but he had to ignore it for his own good. Else not only him, but also Ace, the Ace Lancer and the Ace Rookie (he got to find out their names someday, by the way) would be killed by the black monster.

As he attacked, though, something weird happened. The pain was leaving his body, and he could feel himself becoming faster, stronger. It was almost as if he was pumping chakra in his limbs, but he knew that in the Hunting Grounds he could only use chakra through blood.

Whatever it was though, it was just what he needed. As the monster roared, he attacked. As the monster attacked, he evaded and attacked back in the opening.

Attack.

Attack!

ATTACK!

 ***SLAP***

"Get a hold of yourself!" Ace told him, after slapping him awake.

It was over. Before he noticed it, Gore Magala had left to lick its wounds, and he was surrounded by Ace and the two Hunters.

And he felt utterly terrible. Nevermind his exhaustion, he felt like he was on the verge of collapsing from the wounds he did not even notice he got.

"Don't worry, you were being affected by the Frenzy Virus," the Ace Lancer explained.

Yes, that was another possibility the Frenzy could have. It usually weakens those affected, but if enough adrenaline _and_ some of the chemicals produced with enough exercise (most commonly attacking) was combined with it during the incubation the effects apparently reverse, making the person use their muscles harder and attacking harder… but also making them more aggressive and diminishing their judgement.

Stronger but more violent… As he escorted the two Hunters back to the Gathering Hall on Val Habar, he couldn't help but compare it to both Gaara's condition and the Cursed Seal…

Arriving at the Gathering Hall, the Ace Commander and Ace Gunner quickly jumped to help with their teammates… and Naruto found himself hugged tightly by Artemis.

Right before having his ear almost torn off by the same goddess.

" _What were you thinking?_ " asked her in an angry tone. "No supplies, no preparations. You knew just how dangerous it was going to be!"

"Ouch ouch I had to help Ace and the others, they were there alone!"

"And you almost became the fourth one alone there!"

"But I didn't!"

"But you could have!"

Naruto went quiet after that. Then, out of nowhere, he began to laugh.

Surprised and confused, Artemis let him go.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just… it just sank into me, we were looking like… well, not mother and child with you looking like that," he pointed out the fact that she looked to be eighteen while there, "but at least siblings."

"Well, we may not have the name for it, but we _are_ related just as closely," she pointed out in greek, knowing no one but him there would understand her.

"Not complaining. Just pointing it out."

"Well, good," Artemis said, hugging him again. "Because I'm proud of being related to you."

"And you should be," said the Ace Commander, interrupting their conversation. "I am very glad for your actions. If there is anything we can do to help you back in the future, all you have to do is ask."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto answered, smiling.

"Thanks heavens you are all safe!" said the Caravaneer. "Kindred Hunter, you did it again!"

"It shames me you had to do this," said the Ace Commander, looking as ashamed as he said for not being able to help his conrades.

The Guildmaster, an old, tiny wyverian, then released a lungful of smoke from his pipe.

"Well I'll be. It seems like your swift actions saved them right in the nick of time," he said with a whistle, observing the two being treated. The Ace Cadet was just a bit hurt by now, but the Ace Lancer had been much more damaged by the fight. "And that's the second miracle ya've pulled off too, you already survived the Gore Magala while out at sea."

"That's the beast that broke your ship earlier?" Artemis asked, surprised.

"Actually it is more of a blind dragon…"

Artemis' glare showed Naruto she did not appreciate his attempt of humor.

"Don't worry Temie, Doodle did great to scare it away at the time!"

"Heh, I figured any Hunter that ran into the monster _once_ was a goner, let alone **twice**. Eh heh!" the old wyverian laughed.

"Not helping here, old man."

"The Kindred Archer must learn not to coddle you so much, Kindred Hunter. You may not be as experienced as her, but you clearly can take care of yourself."

The Ace Commander meanwhile was nodding his head, as if coming to a decision.

"…Guildmaster, please honor this one request."

Artemis could feel a part of her turn to ice, dreading his next words.

And she was right.

"Give this Hunter the mission we could not complete. Allow this brave soul to eliminate Gore Magala."

"No!" Artemis stopped them. "I cannot allow it!"

"Temie, he proved himself already… I know Doodle looks young, but I believe in him."

"He already proved himself able to fight it on equal grounds twice, and no one has as much knowledge of its fighting style than him. No one is more capable," the Ace Commander insisted… looking at Artemis instead of the Guildmaster. "Please!"

"But… but…" Artemis didn't know what to say. She knew this was Naruto's chance to advance to a high level Hunter like her, but it had to be against a monster that defeated _a whole team_?

"Temie. I _have_ to do this."

With a sigh, Artemis nodded. She just hoped she would not regret it…

"Hmm, this Hunter? Rhg, very well," agreed the Guildmaster. "Listen up everybody! The Gore Magala job has been reassigned to this Hunter here! All Guild resources are to be reassigned accordingly! …And make it snappy! Eh heh."

"You have our assistance as well," declared the Ace Commander. "We shall return to the field and learn what we can about the Gore Magala. I give you my heartfelt oath that the four of us will determine where that menace crawled off to."

"Hoowee! How about _that_! That's the kind of hunt that makes or breaks careers!" declared the Caravaneer. "Go get 'im, Kindred Hunter. Show these folks what I already know… That you're the one to get it done!"

"Yeah!" agreed Naruto.

Artemis could only sigh. She believed in Naruto's abilities… to a point, but she feared this could be past said point.

She did not like this.

IIIII

"And you are right not to," Jiraiya agreed.

They did not get along. Jiraiya was _almost_ everything she despised in the male gender… and then there was a line he not only never crossed but loathed those who did about as much as her. And then also there were those times he actually was a decent human being, mostly about Naruto, innocents and his home village.

He had some qualities. Unfortunately, while he never crossed the line into worthy of smiting, he more than crossed the line into being turned into a jackalope. …Or something else, she was being pigeonholed in using jackalopes nowadays. Not that the kami would allow her to do that.

And she had asked many times.

But if there was _one_ thing they would always agree on is that Naruto's safety and happiness was paramount. The only thing that would be of equal importance in her head was her Hunters, while Jiraiya did not have even that anymore. He claimed he was misguided earlier, thinking his safety was more important than his happiness, and when he woke up he felt too guilty to go back to Naruto's life. Naruto forgave him, Artemis was doing her best to do so too.

"But you are also right in letting him try it anyway.

Look, you have had some hunting missions with him, I have been training him. We both know he is good. He may hold no candle to us yet, but we both know he oozes potential.  
That said, he is fighting a dangerous monster that dwarfs him in size. It is no wonder you are worried about him. He could be better than you and I would worry about him.  
But it is his decision in the end, and we have to let them fly off the nest. We don't have to like it, we just need to do our best that he is as prepared as we can.

Besides, he got Ace with him. If things get too bad, he can always leave and recover, right?"

Artemis sighed. Jiraiya may be a buffoon and a lecher, but he was also an experienced teacher and fighter.

"Speaking of him being prepared, how is his training going?"

"Reasonably well," Jiraiya said, crossing his arms. "He has some faults, but they won't damage him in _this_."

"What so you mean?"

"After getting his forgiveness, I tried finding his faults to fix first thing. And I'm happy to say he does not have many that would be a problem in this, he was able to build a nice fighting style with his hunting experiences… for fighting giant monsters. He is barely any better with human-sized targets than when I trained him for the chunin exam. And he is even worse when fighting unnarmed, thanks to lack of training in hand-to-hand combat.

So my idea was to make him used to fighting opponents his actual size, mostly while unnarmed. Mainly me and his clones, since I got experience and instincts and the clones already know how he fights. Plus he found out and reminded me of the memory transfer the clones can make, that way he adapts in half the time since he is training twice at once… with one clone. And the clones can also fight each other. I expect him to be a decent level before the year is over.  
And besides that we are training some team tactics, his lack of clones while in the Hunting Grounds—"

"Minegarde," Artemis interrupted. "We finally found out that place's real name."

Jiraiya shrugged. "Well, since he can't use his clones there and most of his training happens in that place he is getting unused of using them tactically as much as he could."

Artemis resisted the urge to snort. Naruto almost defeated her own Hunters in their first meeting by using his clones and some strategy, and ok, one invisibility cap that was lent to him but still. She could only imagine what he could do if he had as much potential as the old lecher was implying.

And she did not doubt he had.

"Besides that there is not much I can think of, some strength and speed improvements, some chakra-control for things like making the rasengan faster and one-handed, and find a way to make it stronger like he wants, help him develop a new technique he had the idea for while at that camp of yours, some tactical training… Maybe find out his elemental affinity and try to teach him the beginning of elemental manipulation while giving him a few techniques that would be useful.

Maybe when I judge him stable enough I'll try again to make him draw the fox's chakra… I'll probably give him a warning this time," he finished with a rouguish smirk.

The hateful glare he received told him that was not such a good idea of a joke.

The ravine incident was still a sore point with both Naruto and Artemis, apparently, even after he had explained his actions.

"Not like he has much chance of accepting, he seems convinced he does not need the tailed beast's power," Jiraiya admitted in a sour tone.

"I find that an understandable belief. I mean, he did fight many monsters without even using his chakra, and he even defeated this Shukaku tailed beast without needing his own's help."

"Yeah…" Jiraiya could only nod. "He did not even need a toad's help. All he had at the time was Ace and an armor made of… kashawasha?"

"Kecha Wacha," Artemis corrected.

"Don't get me wrong, the orange fits him, and despite the visible midriff I could see it was much more resistant than the leather usually available for genin, but… it was a _tailed beast going full power_!"

IIIII

 _Naruto stopped after just enough to be away from Shikamaru's line of sight and quickly unsealed a bow and a full quiver of arrows from a scroll._

" _Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked, a mix of impatient and curious._

 _Putting the bow around one arm and the quiver the other, he made a clone._

" _Well, if Shikamaru is staying behind, I won't leave him alone. I'm not as good with a bow as with other weapons, but since Shikamaru's jutsu is known and the best defense is attacking from out of its range…"_

 _Sakura nodded. As much as she wanted to help Sasuke, leaving Shikamaru behind still left a sour taste in her mouth, even if he hadn't said that chances were of him dying for being a bait. She knew full well he didn't held much hope of surviving even if he saw himself as having more chance to do so._

 _She just hoped Naruto's clone would be enough._

IIIII

 _As Shikamaru expected, his attack on the eight sound-nin held by his shadow made the ninth one reveal himself to protect them._

 _Unfortunately, his shadow was not enough to reach said ninth hidden one._

 _And, as his opponent seemed to enjoy teasing him about, his chakra was also down. He would not be able to hold the other eight for much longer._

… _And then a low whistle of something crossing the air was heard, and the ninth sound ninja fell from the tree with an arrow embedded on his forehead._

" _What?" all of them thought._

" _Hey lazy-ass, don't tell me you were going to give up?" came Naruto's voice from behind Shikamaru._

" _Hey Naruto, what are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked in a tired and annoyed voice._

" _Not important right now," the Naruto shrugged. "Hey, do you remember when we were in the hospital and you said you felt what those you captured did? How many do you think you can hold if I shoot them in the head?"_

" _Never tried," came the nonchalant reply. "If you are going to test it now, start from the jonin the dog told us about. I think it is that one, since he acted like the leader," he finished, pointing to the one who was taunting him earlier._

" _O-oh? And what happens if you cannot hold the others after feeling me getting shot?" the supposed leader asked, trying to hide his nervousness._

 _The Naruto ignored him, but turned to Shikamaru, checking with the boy._

 _The black-haired boy just looked down for a second showing Naruto his flickering shadow. The blond nodded. The shadow would not stand long anyway._

 _So Naruto fired, between the sound ninja's eyes._

 _The shadows released the other sound nin, Shikamaru making a pained sound from the headache. The Naruto released his bow and got the glaive that was still on his back—_

 _And that was when Sarutobi Asuma, the sensei of Shikamaru's team, appeared between the two groups for the save._

" _I can take care of this from now on. You two can go now."_

 _The Naruto nodded, wrapping Shikamaru's arm over his neck and carrying him back to town._

" _Isn't it better to go back to the original?" the Nara asked._

" _Nah, boss wouldn't need me. He can make more if he does. You on the other hand, tired like you are…"_

 _Shikamaru nodded. He could see_ many _advantages where having a clone arriving a bit later would be useful, that was what that ninth sound nin was after all, but could not claim his need wasn't greater in his condition._

IIIII

 _Their search seemed to be reaching an end since Sasuke had stopped… then Pakkun said he was advancing again. Alright, understandable… until he said that there was being a battle on the way they were going._

 _And so he said they had to take a longer route to avoid them._

" _Let's just go through them!" Naruto said, irritated._

" _What are you saying? You can't know what is going to happen in a combat area," Sakura disagreed. "There is a chance we will be taken into the battle, even if we do not wish to fight."_

" _And so what? It is just two people, who are fighting during an invasion to Konoha. One of them in almost certainly an ally, and since the bastard was able to go through he is not that much weaker than the enemy guy. Meaning we will be good for them, and the battle will be over faster if we are forced to enter it. Either we are faster, we help an ally, or both. It is a win-win-and a third win thing!"_

" _Kiddo, our mission is to bring Sasuke back. If we wish to fulfill it we should avoid combat until the mission is complete."_

" _Screw the mission! I am not helping save the bastard because of a mission, I am helping because he is a comrade! And one of the people fighting is one too! Aren't you Kakashi-sensei's summon? Didn't you listen to him when he said comrades are more important than the mission?"_

" _And what it your teammate is hurt because you took your time to get there helping someone else?"_

" _He would have as much chance to being hurt by the extra time of taking a longer route, and at least this way we will be helping_ someone _even if he is."_

 _Pakkun and Naruto just glared at each other… until the dog sighed._

" _The brat got a point. My vote changes."_

 _Sakura just nodded. She had to admit Naruto's points were good._

 _And thus they arrived on the site of the battle between Shino, the bug user, and Kankuro, the marionette user._

" _Shino!"_

" _Naruto-san, Sakura-san," the boy said, not looking at them. "Please leave this battle to me. He is my opponent in the chunin exam after all, I have made strategies to fight him already."_

' _Damn it, I don't think I can stop these other brats from going through…' thought Kankuro, worried._

"… _alright. I will just leave a clone here for support, just in case." Naruto made the sign, and another clone appeared. He had both the bow and full quiver and the glaive on his back, since Naruto did not have the time to seal them again since the last clone._

" _There is no need," Shino tried to argument._

 _Naruto stopped him before he could even make a point._

" _You are supposed to be smart, Shino. Don't be dumb now. Most battles are lost from overestimating themselves or underestimating the enemy than by actual skill difference."_

 _Shino just looked at Naruto's face's direction, his expression impossible to tell through the shades and high collar hiding most of his face._

"… _very well. But please refrain from acting until actually needed."_

 _The clone nodded, and Naruto, Sakura and Pakkun just went past the two._

" _What did I say? Win, win, or a third win."_

" _Yeah, yeah, don't shove it in our face you brat."_

IIIII

 _Sasuke had been punched hard enough there was a hole in the tree he hit. Gaara got much faster and stronger after growing a sand tail._

 _He had no hope but to try a third Chidori… he was too low on chakra, he could die if he used it, but if he didn't he would definitely die by Gaara's hand._

" _What's wrong? Is that all your existence is good for?" Gaara asked. Not in a mocking tone, but a disappointed one hidden in his berserk craziness. "I will make it clear…_

 _You are weak! You are too weak, because your anger is weak! The power of the anger is the power of the desire to kill. The power of the desire to kill is the power of the revenge! Your anger is much weaker than mine!"_

"… _shut up."_

 _Sasuke stood up, preparing himself._

" _Do you know what this means?"_

" _Shut up!"_

" _That means… you are weaker than me—what the?"_

 _Sasuke was starting to make the handsigns to concentrate the chakra for the Chidori… when he noticed the end of Gaara's sentence._

' _What the what?'_

 _He looked at his opponent, confused… to see him looking at a stick stuck under his tail._

… _No, not a stick. Judging by the fletchings near the other tip, an arrow._

 _The two were still looking confused at the arrow when the bottom of the tail_ exploded _._

 _The next second Sasuke was looking at Gaara and himself from a distance._

" _Distant version of Thousand Years of Pain Lethal Version," Sasuke heard Naruto's voice say quietly beside him just as the other him limped away from an infuriated Gaara in a convincing manner._

 _Naruto was a_ good _actor…_

" _Wait, Thousand Years of Pain? That worthless technique Kakashi used on you during the bell test?"_

 _He turned around, and there was Naruto, wearing some weird orange armor over his shirt and boxers, jacket and pants already on the ground. The helmet had a yellow mask hiding his face, but from his voice he was serious, as surprising as that sounds._

" _Yeah. Besides painful, it aims at an unprotected and usually neglected blind spot, so if I can use a kunai with an explosive note instead… But I missed my arrow."_

 _Naruto then proceded to put his normal clothes, and the bow and quiver of arrows Sasuke didn't notice were there, inside a scroll._

" _Where are you?" they heard a furious scream._

" _Damn, seems like my clone couldn't distract him much longer while pretending to be that tired," Naruto said in a serious annoyed tone. Sasuke never heard him talk in that tone._

" _Take these," he said, giving the black-haired boy a canteen of something and a piece of meat. "They are weaker than soldier pills, but they have no risk to overuse them."_

 _Having no room to complain, Sasuke wolfed the well-done meat as quietly as he could, before downing it with the energy drink._

" _So… that's Gaara now?" Naruto asked, eyes focused on Gaara in the distance._

" _Yeah. He was moaning in pain, then started laughing and_ grew _that arm over his. Then when I hit it hard enough he grew the tail."_

" _How much has he changed?" the blonde asked, taking something that looked like a bone staff that Sasuke didn't notice resting beside the tree. "Besides the appearance."_

" _What?"_

" _His sand is not moving by itself anymore, else he would have blocked the arrow even without noticing it. Besides using it as claws and whips, what else can he do?"_

 _Sasuke hn'ed, thinking._

" _He can still block most things with pure speed, and absorb projectiles with the sand. Really, besides the shape and the lack of a shield I was not able to see much difference. …Besides he is hitting even harder and is much faster. He can also throw the projectiles back faster and they seem to be heated."_

" _He used to attack from the sand. Now that it is shaped, is he still using it the same?"_

 _Naruto's actually smart question surprised Sasuke, but that brought his attention to the point._

" _You are right. Now that it is shaped like a limb, it_ is _behaving like it is just a stretchy one. Despite hitting only the sand, he reacted like I actually cut his arm with the Chidori. But he was soon better and laughing at me."_

 _Naruto nodded. "That's because he isn't all himself. Something is controlling him more and more, and the sand is forming a body for it. It was not really Gaara's, but what you cut was really an arm."_

 _Sasuke snarled in anger. "But it reformed with more sand. What can we do?"_

" _We kick his ass until he isn't able to control Gaara anymore, that's what! If we beat Gaara up, it won't have something to control!"_

 _Sasuke nodded and stood up, his course decided. "So we kill Gaara."_

" _No!" Naruto screamed—_

 _And thus Gaara found them, and they had to escape his attacks._

" _What do you mean 'no'? You just said—"_

" _Right now he is like an upside-down canteen that the screwy lid wasn't put right and is leaking. We need to push it tight enough it stops leaking, not break the canteen and let it all out!"_

 _Sasuke grimaced. "Your comparison was terrible, but I got it. Gaara right now is bad, killing him is worse because it won't be held back even this anymore, we need to hit him until he can't be controlled anymore."_

" _That's it!"_

 _Sasuke nodded in his head. The only thing he had hope of killing him with was the Chidori, but he didn't have enough chakra to use it. But if he just needed to tire Gaara…  
Naruto was not very good a fighter last time they met, and he doubted he got _that _much better in just a month. But if there is something the dead-last had was energy to outlast most opponents. If he got at least better enough to survive, he would just need to rest to regain energy and distract the weird sand-nin from time to time to tire him out._

 _At least that was his plan._

 _Just like when he entered the dome of ice mirrors, Naruto did something unexpected, stupid and suicidal._

 _He went to fight Gaara with his staff weapon. Not tire, but actually fight._

 _While they were talking, Gaara had already regrown the tail…_

 _But Naruto did_ not _attack with what he now recognized as a glaive (although it looked a bit different from before, as if longer, and he didn't see the blade before)._

 _He used it to jump over Gaara, and used the other side to throw…_ something _in his face._

 _Then he stuck to the side of a tree, and threw at the possessed boy… a giant bug?_

 _The bug flew along the arm Gaara put on the way, its sharp proboscis scratching the sand with no more visual effects than a small scratch that was quickly fixed, and flew back to Naruto's hand, piercing his arm._

" _Defense essence?" Naruto commented in a surprised tone. "I would have expected it from the tail…"_

 _That was surreal for the Uchiha. What was the bug for? What did he get from Gaara and give to Naruto?  
Why did Naruto have a bug half the length of his arm in the first place?_

 _Gaara was just as confused, but quickly recovered and tried to attack with his arm where Naruto had landed. Only for the other boy to jump once more, this time to under a branch high in another tree, and throw the bug once again at Gaara, this time it hitting the tail._

 _He then jumped to yet another tree and twirled the glaive in his hand, making a low sound. The bug quickly flew to him, repeating the stab on his arm and resting on it as if a bulky vambrace._

"… _Great, speed essence… and they will probably always protect the head…" with a sigh, he jumped again, this time to_ right in front of Gaara _, and attacked the boy with the cutting tip. As expected the sand nin jumped back putting his arm in front of him, but Naruto moved faster than before, somehow, and gave the arm a deep cut.  
The damage was quicly healed, but the possessed boy cried in pain anyway._

" _What—How? How did such a simple weapon cut through my sand armor?"_

 _Naruto cocked his head. "…a good blacksmith and decent sharpening?"_

 _Gaara yelled in outrage, thinking Naruto was mocking him, and grew a second sand arm. As response, Naruto yelped and jumped away to another tree._

 _Meanwhile Sasuke_ finally _noticed Sakura and a pug some distance away motioning for him._

 _Frowning, he approached the two, always keeping his eyes on the fight._

" _Sakura, do you have a plan or something?" he asked bluntly as soon as he got close enough._

 _The girl shook her head in negative._

" _We were just sent to bring you back to the village."_

"… _why?" asked Sasuke, confused. "I mean, I am glad Naruto was able to distract him and buy me time to recover chakra, but why sent people to bring me back while the village was being invaded?"_

 _Sakura blinked._

" _Sasuke-kun, this is an invasion. The village security is toast. We know at least one S-rank missing-nin that is after you who has the perfect opportunity of doing so while you are away from any source of protection._ Why _do you think you need to go back to the village?"_

 _Sasuke looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment and pretend he didn't hear the 'at least I don't like him for his brains' remark._

" _Well, they have a plan that uses Gaara and, from what I've seen, it probably involves whatever Naruto said is taking him over. So I think I made the right call following him, since he was taken over in the middle of nowhere._

 _Now help me make a plan to help our suicidally stupid teammate."_

 _Sakura frowned. "You missed his match with Neji, but he got much better since last time we saw him. To me it looks like he is in control of the battle for now."_

 _Sasuke just looked at her. "I noticed," he deadpanned. "But he is fighting someone who can down a bunch of trees with a swing of one of those sand arms. It doesn't matter if he is doing well, just_ thinking _of fighting it is already suicidally stupid."_

" _Yet you did so."_

" _I was kinda taken by surprise and then I had no way out until Naruto arrived."_

" _I mean just now. Be honest, you are annoyed that Naruto took over your battle just as much as worried for our lives."_

"… _It was my battle! While I appreciate the save, I want to finish it myself!"_

 _Sakura just shook her head._

"…I _am not the one who claims I'm a genius."_

" _Noticed."_

 _Sasuke frowned. He did not like how she and the other girls were infatuated with him and glorified everything he did, but didn't he at least deserve some respect?_

 _Then, a shadow covered the three. Sasuke and Sakura looked up right on time to see a giant sand arm falling on them before the feeling of a kawarimi took them over and they saw three Narutos be crushed where the two and Pakkun were._

" _Sorry guys," Naruto said beside them, "I tried to distract him more, but he found you anyway."_

 _Sakura could only mumble "it's ok" under her breath. Sasuke thought better not to try his luck. Pakkun… didn't look overly worried, for some reason._

 _Then Sakura found herself being pushed aside by a jumping Naruto right before he was hit by Gaara's fiant sand fist, ending with him being thrown backwards until he hit a tree, falling face-first in a branch a bit lower than where he hit._

 _Gaara quickly jumped on a tree facing his branch._

" _I hit you finally," he said with an evil smile._

" _You hit only me though," Naruto replied, right before coughing a bit of blood. "That's all that matters to me."_

 _Gaara's eyes got confused, before they widened in a mix of incredulity and, something he wouldn't admit even to himself, envy._

" _Why?" Gaara asked Naruto. "Why do you fight so hard for them? Why do you risk dying for them?"_

 _Naruto thought. In the Hunting Grounds, he did it because… at first it was training to get stronger, and later to help the people there. People that treated him as an equal (minus his lack of "intense eyebrows"). Here, he fought for… Less people on the whole, but for the same reason._

" _Because you are a threat to those I care for. Iruka-sensei, Konohamaru, my few friends, the old man, my teammates… I used to live alone and hate everyone. But, little by little, these people helped me. They were there for me, some when no one else was, others joined me later but mean no less for me._

 _And in this battle… there is one more person I have to fight for, because it seems no one else will."_

 _The redhead turned his head in curiosity._

" _Gaara, you are not being yourself. I don't know why you ended up like you are, but this is_ not _the way to find a meaning for your life. I know what it means to live life alone, without meaning. I know what a terrible thing it is. I found one for mine… and I want to help you find a real one for yours._

 _Fighting those that seem stronger than you to validate your existence… and then, what will happen? You either find someone strong enough to finish your existence, or keep going until there is no one to do it for you anymore."_

 _Gaara's eyes widened… then he started laughing._

" _Me? You claim you are going to fight… for_ me _?"_

" _Someone has to," Naruto answered in a sad tone. "And it seems you already gave up yourself."_

 _Gaara stopped laughing, staring in Naruto's eyes angrily. The sand covered the rest of his body, leaving only the legs still uncovered._

"… _Very well. Show me your conviction. Show me that your reason for existence is stronger than mine, show me that the strength you claim protecting others gives you is stronger than the one my anger gives me!"_

 _Gaara attacked with his left arm and Naruto jumped over it… just as Gaara predicted, as his right arm went just a second later right above the left one._

 _Eyes wide, Naruto made a clone, using it as a foothold to jump higher. The clone was dispelled instantly with a sickening "crunch" sound._

 _He quickly stuck the tip of his glaive into a nearby branch, since he_ really _did not want to try his luck stepping into the sand arm. Luckily he was right and the branch was strong enough to hold his weight…_

 _And only then he noticed the holes that opened in the arm._

" _Suna Shuriken!" the transformed Gaara bellowed, and Naruto only had time to activate the mechanism in the glaive and be thrown to the side before balls of sand flew upwards at high speed._

 _There was just one problem…_

 _Naruto had been disarmed. The glaive had been stuck on the wood. The "push" it had could help push it out, but he had no leverage. No, Naruto decided to sacrifice it for his safety._

" _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled, and a bunch of clones appeared from smoke. While saying the name of a technique is not needed, saying it, or to a lesser degree thinking it when using them, helps focus and strengthens it. And Naruto was going for quantity there._

 _As one, an army of clones jumped towards Gaara. Usually his sand would protect him by itself, but right now it was occupied forming his body. It was a thick, hard layer, but Naruto's weapon already proved itself sharp enough to pierce it with enough force._

 _As the uncountable clones jumped on the transformed boy, extra mouths grew on the sand body, sucking air in._

" _Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!" was heard in Gaara's distorted voice, and a localized sandstorm was thrown from his mouth._

 _When the sand died down (which it did quickly, due to Gaara calling it back) what Gaara saw were some smoothed trees… and nothing else. No visible Naruto. Not even his previously discarded weapon._

 _Gaara dismissed the last one as it either having broken or simple been thrown away by the heavy wind…_

… _until he had the familiar feeling of the blade piercing the sandy skin, this time hitting in the back of his right shoulder and cutting down his back._

" _GAH! AAAH! What the FUCK is this blade_ made of _?"_

" _Bones, iron and talent!" Naruto answered as he let himself fall from the branch, avoiding Gaara's backswing._

 _Gaara turned around to aim an attack at the boy, and was grabbed in the feet._

 _By two hands each._

 _Before he could react, two Narutos hiding themselves under the branch he was at pulled and swung him, throwing him to a trunk some distance away._

 _Then, while Gaara was still in the air, the original, holding a kunai in his teeth, made even more clones. Before the possessed boy could even react he was being pierced by over twenty kunai._

' _But those were not as sharp that glaive', he thought as he used a sand arm to pull himself onto a branch nearby and began absorbing the blades riddling his body to throw them back, 'they are of no real consequence—_

 _NOT AGAIN'_

 _This time it was not an arrow, but a kunai being pushed right under his tail._

" _Ultimate Konoha Taijutsu Technique, Thousand Years of Pain!"_

 _Nearby, Sakura, Pakkun and even Temari could not believe what just happened._

" _Sasuke-kun, did Naruto really try to pass that ass poke Kakashi-sensei used on him as a technique too?"_

 _Sasuke just looked at the battle with his sharingan. "It is more than that. Kakashi-sensei used his fingers in a tiger handseal. Naruto used a kunai."_

" _And?"_

" _Nope,that's it. But Naruto calls it Lethal Version though. You know, for it being a knife there instead of just fingers…"_

 _Just then,_ each and every kunai stabbing Gaara **exploded** _._

" _Potentially explosive knives, if you use a tag on them," he finished, resisting the urge to smirk at his joke. Maybe it wasn't that good, but his timing was impeccable._

 _Gaara roared in pain… and was suddenly much less threatening. The layer of sand-skin had melted, the part where the Thousand Years of Pain being too thin to absorb all the impact of the explosion and the other kunai, being absorbed when they exploded,having almost the same effect. His actual skin was visible in places, burned and bloody._

" _How…_ How _?" The redhead bellowed. "There is no way… There is no way I will lose to someone like him!"_

 _Gaara's sand exploded by itself, a pillar of it grooving and raising a small sandstorm. And what appeared when the sandstorm finally dispersed… was the stuff of Temari's nightmares._

 _Dwarfing the already enormous trees of the forest, it was a bigger, fatter version of the possessed Gaara Naruto had been fighting until now. With its jagged mouth, eyes with a black sclera that was indistinguishable from the black rings surrounding it in a way that seemed like it had two golden dots in an abyss for eyes, sand-colored body with some blue marks and a tail bigger than it is made of what looked like scales, it looked like a giant monster version of a raccoon._

" _I was not expecting to show you this form…" echoed Gaara's voice from the beast._

 _Then, it raised its hand, pointing it to the Narutos. Sand started spinning around_ each and every one of them _, more and more until they were all covered in it._

 _The eyes of the two leaf genin watching widened. While for their luck they never saw Gaara killing someone with his sand, they had a very good idea that this was_ not _good._

 _Unfortunately they had no idea_ what _they could do to help._

" _Sabaku Soso!" Gaara roared, and the sand cocoons holding the Narutos_ imploded _._

 _Sakura's eyes filled with tears, but Sasuke's narrowed. There was something wrong there…  
Actually it had been wrong for a while. Something missing that shouldn't._

" _Uh? Where is the blood? None of them had blood!"_

 _That is when he noticed, ever since Naruto made the first wave of clones… Where was the giant bug? Kage Bunshin cannot copy other living beings, only the user. So the bug would be…_

" _Sakura, this is important. Did you see if one of the destroyed Narutos had a giant beetle n his arm?"_

 _Sakura thought a bit… "Not that I remember… Why?"_

 _Sasuke nodded. "Smarter than I thought… wonder how much he really changed in just one month.  
Sakura, Naruto must be waiting for an opening. I'll try to give him it. If you do see something like the bug I said signal me in the other way so I can try to point the giant monster there instead."_

 _He went to stand up and go, but Sakura held him firmly by the arm. Trying to free himself, he only now noticed the girl was, physically, not only stronger than looked but stronger than_ him _too…_

" _Don't be an idiot. If you are right, Naruto was able to trick him… but he defeated all those clones with barely moving."_

" _They didn't move before it was too late though. I am fast enough to escape his sand, so I should be safer…."_

" _You are also tired. Don't try to deny it."_

 _He didn't. It would be stupid to lie._

"… _what is that idiot doing?" Sakura said suddenly, and Sasuke turned back to the beast's direction, eyes wide._

 _Naruto was jumping through the top of the trees towards its towering form, glaive held behind him on one hand, beetle lying on the blade._

" _Found you!" it roared in satisfaction, before punching in the blond's direction._

 _As the giant fist flew towards him, Naruto answered by jumping upwards and swinging the glaive in his hand as hard as he could, throwing the beetle in the beast's face right on time before being hit and dispelling._

 _The beast ignored the beetle as it sliced the sand on its forehead and flew back to the trees by its left side, opposite the ones watching the exchange in confusion._

"… _What just happened?" was all the Uchiha could say."_

" _Naruto used his glaive to add strength to his launch of that beetle, like a trebuchet, I think. Then the clone was dispersed," Sakura answered. "Sasuke-kun, why is that beetle so important?"_

 _Sasuke thought for a second. "At the start of the battle, Naruto made it sting Gaara's sand arm and tail, and got something he called defense and speed essences when it stung him after. Then, at least after he got the speed one, he got faster. Probably the defense one made him more resistant or something. But he seemed disappointed, as if he was looking for a different one instead."_

 _He then looked at the beetle, following it with his eyes until it reached and stung a Naruto hidden among the trees… who was quickly surrounded by smoke and the beetle disappeared._

" _He was stung and kawarimi'd with another clone somewhere," he told the pink-haired girl._

" _I got it then," she answered as another Naruto repeated his dead sibling's actions, "he must be trying to find the right of these essences or something. He makes a clone to throw it, gets the essence and moves to safety again._

" _And what happens when he does it?"_

 _The girl could only shrug._

 _Just then the bug passed through the giant sand tanuki a third time and back to Naruto… and right after around twelve of them jumped out of the trees._

 _Gaara tried to punch them, but eight of them threw the other four upwards in the direction of his belly. Then, two of them were used as platforms, one of the other two above the other, the one below drawing his glaive and stabbing the sand giant's chest._

 _The one above then landed on them, one foot on the glaive and the other on the other Naruto's shoulder, pushed chakra to his feet and…_ pushed _._

 _The glaive cut through Gaara's belly to the bottom, leaving a long scar. Surprised, Gaara yelled in pain. He tried punching with the other arm, but the upper Naruto had already dispelled and the other was clearly kawarimi'd already._

 _Not that Naruto stayed hidden for long, since the curved beast quickly fell on its knees as he cut through the Achilles tendon of his right foot._

" _AH! This pain is annoying!"_

"… _Really?" said another Naruto on top of a tree. "After that whole thing about being hurt by the bastard all I got is that my pain is 'annoying'? I feel insulted!"_

" _Do not worry, Uzumaki Naruto! You get the greatest honor!"_

 _The sand in the forehead o the sand tanuki shifted, and Gaara himself, body still a bit burned by the explosions, slowly slid upwards from it until reaching his waist. His eyes were white, contrary to the usual pupil-less blue, and a cruel anticipation smile was in his face._

" _You get to know the true power of the incarnation of the sand."_

" _Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu…" Gaara proclaimed, closing his eyes…_

 _And his whole body went limp._

 _Shukaku's eyes turned from a sandy yellow to a golden one, and the beast rose his hands in the air and yelled in happiness._

" _Yipeee! I am finally free!"_

 _He looked at the Naruto in the tree, glee clear in his voice._

" _And look, here is someone I want to kill! Futon Renkudan!"_

 _He beat his belly, and a ball of compressed air was shot through his mouth, blowing a hole in the layer of trees in front of him._

" _Gone already? And here I thought we would have fun!"_

 _As an answer, ten Narutos jumped into his back, using their glaives to stab at his skin._

 _Shukaku smiled, but did not bother turning. He grabbed their feet and started pulling them in, like a high-speed sinking sand. They immediately exploded._

 _Among the trees, another Naruto observed unmolested until now… but finally decided it was enough to act._

 _A dozen Narutos jumped from the trees to attack Shukaku again, this time from the side._

 _The beast laughed, and just side-slapped the Narutos, but just like before the twelve threw four of them upwards… and three of them fell on top of the hand._

 _One on the shoulders of another._

 _Nor caring, Shukaku started pulling the three stuck ones… and the third one jumped, hands in a cross-shape._

 _A fifth Naruto appeared, clutching himself to Shukaku's arm right as the jumping one landed on his back and jumped again. Another Naruto appeared, and the process repeated._

 _Shukaku's eyes widened._

 _He went to slap down the one in the air just air it was near the height of his shoulder, twisting his massive body, removing his reach of him at the same time. Naruto wasn't stopped though, and right before the slap reached he created yet another clone, this time behind him, and used it as a wall to jump not upwards but on the direction Shukaku's shoulder, with a second clone creating a foothold there too._

 _He wasted no time, and advanced to the head, making another clone in the way. However, this one wasn't stepped on. He raised his own glaive sideways with both hands._

 _No time to doubt himself or change his mind, Naruto used his own glaive as a pole-vault, the blade hitting that one's shaft, and pressed the mechanism, pushing himself higher than even himself could reach._

 _He fell on top of Shukaku's snout, right in front of Gaara's body._

 _The sands began surrounding him, wasting no time._

 _Twirling the glaive, he held it backwards, the blade on his side instead of the opponent's, and_ swung _._

 _He could only hope he was right, since he let it go in the middle of the swing._

 _Gaara's eyes opened with the impact, and he could feel some of his ribs breaking._

 _The sand construct cried in the unfairness of his short-lived freedom and collapsed, nothing more holding the sand in shape._

 _The two ninjas fell on top of some of the nearby trees._

" _Man…" Naruto said, breathing heavily. "I'm… exhausted. Never used shadow clones that much or that fast. I mean I make a bunch of them sometimes, but they usually come all together you know?  
Also, I think that last throw dislocated mu shoulder…"_

 _Gaara said nothing, just looking deeply into Naruto's eyes._

" _And I can see you are too. Using all those moves, then having your transformation interrupted midway instead of just letting it end… must have burned you out. And I'm pretty sure I heard a bone break with that hit._

 _So, right now, we_ really _are just the same… save for what we believe in."_

 _Gaara said nothing. Nothing else had to be said._

 _They jumped, each with their good hand, their weaker hand, prepared to punch._

 _Both punches connected._

 _But they had two more differences Naruto forgot._

 _The first was that Naruto was trained to fight. He may not have been good at hand-to-hand, but he trained in it, as hard as he could. He also used weapons, something that needed physical strength to use no matter the weapon or style. Even bowguns had to be carried in the user's hand while they ran._

 _Gaara used his sand. To attack. To defend. With barely any input, physical or mental._

 _Both punches connected. Only one of them was significant._

 _Only Gaara was pushed back as they fell._

 _The other difference was that only Naruto knew how to fall._

 _Naruto's legs hurt from the fall._

 _Gaara fell on his shoulder, probably dislocating it._

 _Thus Gaara could only look and try to crawl away as Naruto walked to him._

" _No! Don't come near me! I don't want to be killed! I don't want to die!"_

 _As an answer Naruto grabbed Gaara by the neck of his shirt and pulled him up._

" _Don't be an idiot! If I wanted to kill you I would have hit you with the blade side of my glaive while we were up there!"_

 _He threw Gaara to the side of a tree… then sat down beside him._

" _The pain of being alone… is something this world can't even conceive, isn't it?"_

 _Gaara just looked at the blond, eyes wide._

" _I know how it is… I had once been there. I understand you so well it even hurts me. But… I have people who are important to me now. People I would fight for._

 _I fought you to protect them. Not not let you hurt them. And also…"_

 _Naruto looked at Gaara's wide eyes, a smile on his face._

" _I know how it feels to be there. It was hell. I am not there anymore, but you are. Will you let me give you what was given me? Will you joing those that gave it to me too? Will you let me… be your friend?"_

 _Gaara didn't say anything for a while, looking for any deceit in those eyes._

" _You… you are not lying, are you? You could have finished me off, and yet… Even after all I've done…"_

 _It was at that point that Temari arrived, along with a Naruto carrying Kankuro and Shino. On the other side came Sakura and Pakkun, and in the back Sasuke trying to figure out the glaive in his hands._

" _Hey guys! How's everyone?" Naruto asked, too tired to raise his hand._

" _I thank you for your clone. If not for him I would have been in trouble due to mu opponents poison."_

" _He beat me up until I gave him the serum," Kankuro clarified._

" _Temari, Kankuro, I'm out of the invasion," Gaara said in a tired voice. "I was offered a friend here, and I can't have it if we help destroy the village."_

 _The two other siblings could only nod dumbly. It's not like the two had much chance anyway._

" _Wasn't this smaller earlier?" Sasuke asked nonchalantly as he approached with the glaive in his hand._

" _Hey, thanks!" Naruto said with a smile as Sasuke gave him the glaive. Then he pressed a trigger that made it retract, both the blade and part of the shaft._

 _Holding the blade to his chest, he closed his eyes… and began snoring softly._

 _Gaara looked around, at all the destruction he created… and whose worst effects on his opponent, luckily now that they were friends, was a punch and exhaustion._

" _Hey Naruto," Gaara finally asked the clone, "just… what kind of monster are you really?"_

" _The most dangerous kind, Gaara, the most dangerous kind… A motivated human."_

IIIII

"But that is neither here or there," Jiraiya interrupted. "The three of us know that the Akatsuki is going to try and capture not only him but also the other tailed beasts. That means at least one _duo_ of S-ranked missing-nin, properly briefed and trained to fight him and his tailed beast."

"Doesn't that mean that by _not_ using it he'd have an advantage though?"

"Not really. The other jinchuuriki… their skillset is most of the time heavily based on their tailed beast. Naruto is unique in that the only known abilities the Kyubi gives him are enhanced healing and boosting his abilities.  
But that means they are ready for Naruto to have at least a power boost. And _that_ means that, by _not_ having a power boost _and more_ , he is at a disadvantage."

Artemis couldn't help but nod. They would be cautious, trying to make him use said power boost so he could overuse it and get tired, like if hunting and getting them enraged. If he did _not_ have such a boost though, they'd just be beating him up for longer. The key was Naruto _having_ the boost and using it well enough to _escape and find help_. Not to win.

They would have researched his fighting style, better to have someone with a different one for support, no matter him wanting to defeat them or just drive them away.

Their talk was interrupted by light footsteps. Naturally light instead of intentional, a combination of natural skills and deeply-ingrained training.

A tired Naruto arrived… and promptly glomped Artemis, a smile on his tired face.

"Ew! Naruto, you are covered in sweat!"

"Sorry Temie, I was training fighting my clones. When did you arrive?"

"Half an hour ago. I was talking with your godfather about your training, making sure he wasn't just pushing you aside for his perverted ways."

Jiraiya put a hand over his heart as if stabbed.

"You wound me Artemis. As if I'd dare do it without giving the kid something to distract him so he doesn't blow my cover."

Artemis and Naruto just looked at him with a bored expression. They were not even surprised he just admitted the only reason he didn't do it was that Naruto would expose him.

"Anyway," Artemis said after a bit, "I also came to check if you are ready for hunting Gore Magala. Is your equipment set? Do you have all items you could need?"

"Yup. All the nullberries, whetstones, potions and mega potions I can take in an approved mission. Same for well-done meat, just in case. The Dragonseer told me he is in the Ancient Steppe, so no reason for hot or cold drinks. Got a deal with the Street Cook to use one of my vouchers for a meal with fresh adamant seeds to harden my skin, and am taking a few demondrugs to boost my muscles. And I'm wearing an armor made from a Najarala with a Blessing Jewel on the helmet, so I will get some protection from its roar. The jewel is for other cases when I'd use the armor. My Stealth Glaive is as strong as I can make it. And I'll take a good night's sleep right now to be at my best tomorrow!"

"Are you sure the glaive is the best weapon for this fight?" Jiraiya asked from the side. He may not be a hunter, but he did have fighting experience.

"Well… no. But I can say it for any other weapon too."

"Gore Magala is a big unknown," Artemis explained. "Naruto is currently the one that battled against it the most. We have no idea of its strengths and weaknesses, or the best strategy to fight against it, so the best he can do is bet on the weapon he is most comfortable with."

"I favor either the glaive or dual blades, even if I can use some more," Naruto added, "but I am more comfortable with the different movements the glaives let me go for than the speed the dual blades give. Besides, I can't be sure I'll have the space to sharpen the weapons during the hunt, and the dual blades need sharpening from time to time."

"Oh. Understandable. And why not just add both armor and demon seeds to the food?"

"The Street Cook claims it would ruin the flavor," Naruto answered with a shrug.

"But it would work better than—"

"I don't argue with the cook about how the food is made."

"But it would give you both benefits with nothing bad but making you eat something not-so-good! I know how it is to be passionate about your art but—"

"Actually it may be poisonous. Cooking is not an exact science in that place as far as I can tell," Artemis said, making Jiraiya pale.

"Well, ok then," Jiraiya said with a shrug, trying to hide his worry. "I'm going for my room. Don't spend too long talking brat, you have a big day tomorrow and you know Artemis has some brats of her own to tuck away for the night."

That said, the sage left for their room in the town's inn.

"I'll take a quick shower, is that ok?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head. He _did_ just come back from training after all.

"Actually, I think I need to be going too," Artemis said, apologetically. "As Jiraiya said, I have to take care of the girls, and I don't want you to stay awake too long talking to me and not be in top shape during the hunt. I came here more because I was worried for you."

"Oh, ok." He gave her a hug, and she pat his head.

Naruto waved happily as Artemis summoned Selene to take her back to her world. He was a bit disappointed she couldn't be there longer, but glad she was there for him to begin with.

IIIII

"How are things in the Pantheon of Pain?" Tobi asked mockingly as soon as the two-toned Zetsu entered the room.

"Meh, now that Nagato was able to control the beast things have been boring. I still laugh all the time I see the one-armed Animal Path though," the white side answered with a grin.

" **And you, any news from the Zetsu linked to Castellan?** "

The masked man shrugged.

"Currently he is thinking if it would be better to do it himself or use a spy. He does not know he doesn't have to do it directly to get the Mangekyo. He _will_ do it either way, he thinks that if the girl in the tree dies she gets freed anyway, he just is not sure if he has the guts to do it directly.  
I wonder if the child will survive. I remember awakening it takes a lot of energy, and it is not like the kid had exercised his abilities before me giving it to him. Well, we get at least one Mangekyo Sharingan for ourselves either way."

Tobi looks at the one-sharingan-eyed Zetsu, who gives a wave to the two-toned one.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

" **Having second thoughts? Don't you think it is a little too late?** "

"Hardly. All we have to do is let the Zetsu spore substitute Castellan before Kronos fulfills his plans and he won't even notice that the kid died," Tobi said annoyed, not even considering the Black Zetsu could mean feelings of remorse. "But are you sure _helping Kronos_ is a good idea?"

The Zetsu shrugged.

" **He is a god of Ti—** "

"Titan. Apparently the distinction is important to them."

" **Then** _ **you**_ **better not forget. Since his control is over time,** _ **not**_ **space or dimensional travel like you do. And thus you are the only one who can contact the other besides the Zetsu using Luke's eye counterpart, something he is not aware of anyway. We have all the cards here.** "

"For now. When he gets his powers back, if he is not inclined to do what we agreed—"

" **Then we lose nothing but time that would be spent waiting anyway. Do not worry, this has minimum chance of spelling anything wrong for our goal.** "

The Zetsu slid back into the earth. Tobi waited until he was completely gone before averting his eyes.

Unknown to the Zetsu that as far as he knew was holding Madara's will, his goal was not Madara's goal.

Unknown to Madara's apprentice, the purpose of Black Zetsu was not Madara's either.

IIIII

 **I'm pretty sure enraged monsters tire faster. At least I know Deviljho does, which is why he eats so much to recover stamina.**

 **As you can see, Nagato is having trouble controlling Chameleos…**

 **Luke's sharingan. As you saw this chapter, it was not just a power-up for Luke. It is the way I found for Tobi and Black Zetsu to keep an eye and have leverage over Kronos. The fact Luke got stronger is actually a side-effect.  
To tell the truth my plan was for Luke to become stronger enough to be a threat just out of anger at Percy taking off his eye. But there was already someone who fit this category in the books, and I needed a way for them to communicate. My first plan was Kronos using Pein as a messenger between his dreams because of the Rinnegan (and not being happy about it), but I think this one is better. Pein does not know about actual gods, I get a Luke distinct from the other guy, Tobi and Black Zetsu show how amoral they really are, and Luke is the contact between Kronos and T&BZ without knowing.  
And a surprise effect that... **_**no one**_ **noticed may happen yet. Seriously, it changes the last book a** _ **lot**_ **. Of course, I don't remember anyone mentioning these effects in any PJ fanfic I've read, but most of them didn't get far enough to be affected by things revealed in the second series yet besides throwing a reference to roman gods here and there…  
The person with one eye seeing through the other is based on when that very same thing happened with Kakashi. Avoiding spoilers, but if you finished the manga you know what I'm talking about. Was this shown in the anime yet? Haven't seen it in a while.**

 **And no, Tobi and Black Zetsu are not aware of Artemis ever being in the Elemental Nations, or how she traveled to and from the Elemental Nations before Naruto's birth in the first place.  
Yes, **_**I**_ **am.**


	14. Monsters Without and Within

**Sorry for how long it took. The fight scene was …different than usual, so it took some time to take shape.**

 **I'd also like to announce a side-story to this one I started, called "Divine Third Hunting". It focuses on the Naruto x Monster Hunter duo of this triple crossover, but as you can see since it is a side-story story-important scenes will still be in this story here.**

IIIII

Naruto blinked.

Nothing around him. Just a deep blue that flowed under him like rippling water and around him as if in the eye of a tornado.

Just him… and that light.

A red light that moved like flames. Yet seemed to come from a crystal that spread a deep cold, as if the flame had been frozen somehow.

That was it.

This is all this dream ever gave him to think about.

IIIII

"Are you ready? Ace? Calico?" Naruto asked, as he finished his review of his pre-action report on Gore Magala. Usually reports were only made on Expeditions, but It was an important to make one when going against an unknown monster or subspecies, writing everything that was researched from observations and researchs on supposedly-related species… just in case it was needed after the original hunter tried it and was… unable to do a more-detailed report.

Morbid, but saved many hunters on second attempts. Hopefully it would not be needed though.

" _Gore Magala is a wyvern on a kind of its own. While looking a lot like four-legged wyverns, like the Nargacuga, it is actually six-limbed, something seen much more in Elder Dragons. But different from Elder Dragons its power does not seem to be enough to damage the ecosystem by itself, which is the one thing needed to be an Elder Dragon. Its scales seem more like an exoskeleton, like a Neopteron but in a reptilian shape, with covering where eyes would usually be and fangs that are part of the shell and not teeth. Its wings are covered in fur._

 _It releases some dark pollen-like scales. The more of them are in the air the better it seems to aim his attacks, so it is believed that they give it an extra sense. But there is an even more important reason to avoid such scales: they seem to be the source of the Frenzy Virus that has been affecting some hunters where, it was later found out, Gore Magala had once been._

 _The abilities more commonly seem are pretty common, a couple lunges, sometimes a charge if from afar, even a bite or a tail whip here and there. Rarely may fly and dive on the Hunter.  
However the most dangerous of its abilities is the balls of… 'darkness' it can create. They can be shot up to three at once, and they can travel through the ground for a while before fading. They infect those hit with the Frenzy Virus besides its damage, and can create temporary pools of the dark scales."_

He put it on an envelope to give Sophia. He knew it didn't use most of the polished words most reports did, but he was proud of his work. He would probably base his _after_ -action report on it.

Everything checked and re-checked, the three went to confirm his departure with Sophia, have a meal so he would be as good as possible for the mission… and finally start the mission.

The Dragonseer said the Gore Magala was seen on the Ancient Steppe. More precisely, on area 7.

The Ancient Steppe. Despite the name, just the areas 1 and 3 were actually steppes, 2 being ruins, 4 and 9 being caves, 6 and 8 being on the sides of the hill and 5 its top… but it was 7 that always got Naruto's attention. Before he knew what a steppe was he thought the area was named for it, a collection of walls and planes of grey stone rising on the hill as if steps for a giant.

He arrived at the bottom of the area and started climbing, wondering how much he would have to climb until he reached his target…

The sky seemed to darken out of nowhere, despite it being early in the morning. A dark mist started pouring from the steps above him, depositing on the bottom where he was as if a heavy black fog.

It appeared. Noticing Naruto, it ran around at top speed, bouncing on the wall to fall in front of the young hunter, and roared, pushing Naruto with the dislocated air until he falls down one "step".

As he stands up, spheres of what seems to be pure darkness fall around him, trapping him among the pools of darkness, dark scales oozing from the puddles.

And, not far from him, Gore Magala landed. And everything in it seems to change.

The wings opened wider than ever, and surprisingly so do the claws on the top of them, revealing themselves not aesthetic but a second pair of front paws… no, revealing themselves an even more developed and menacing pair of paws, with what seems to be a prehensile thumb.

The wings oozing the black mist for a bit, these claws dig themselves into the earth, and Gore Magala roars again.

Only, this time it is not just a roar.

If the wings were oozing the darkness, the roar makes it _explode_ from Gore Magala, covering the area and making it seem like the bright morning is already past sundown, as if the night was creeping slowly into the area.

But most surprising, as the monster releases the loud roar, from where otherwise there would be eyes Gore Magala grew horns just as dark as its shell, but with a purple glow.

Naruto drew his glaive. This was going to be a whole new battle…

IIIII

"Why the long face?" Jiraiya asked while sitting down on the chair in front of Artemis. Unlike usual, most Hunters were avoiding her like the plague.

But again, unlike usual she was clearly in a _bad_ mood.

Ironically, she just needed someone, anyone, to talk to.

"I feel powerless. And this sucks."

"I know how it feels. And I'm so used to have tons of chakra…"

"Not this kind of powerless, you buffoon!" she yelled at the man, hands balling into fists. "Powerless in the sense that I can't do anything to help!"

"I know, I know, I'm just kidding," he said with a laugh. "I'm his godparent too, you know. And everyone on Capital C is also worried, but they have trust in his abilities."

"I do have!" Artemis replied angrily. "But I still worry. I mean, he is fighting an unknown monster that is supposedly close to an Elder Dragon on his own."

"Why _is_ he on his own?" Jiraiya asked, in a mix of curiosity and confusion. "I mean, I get it that he is the one with the most experience against it, but wouldn't it make more sense to send him in a team?"

"Low priority," Artemis grumbled, stabbing her salad. "Gore Magala is just one so he is not as much of a treat, so newer hunters avoid it for fear while more experienced avoid it for thinking it is not worthy. Those that _do_ think it is worthy either are retired, work more on the paperwork or research side of things, are not available like the Ace Hunters that are still recovering, or in my case I am 'too good'." At Jiraiya's raised eyebrow, she explained: "They seem to think that I should be focused on bigger threats, more dangerous to the public at large… And damn it, if they put the pressure of untrained victims on the line I would be disappointed if Naruto wouldn't say I should listen to them."

Jiraiya shrugged. "It is the same when a jonin has to let their student lead a mission on their own. They want to follow and make sure they are safe, even if from a distance, but they are too good to waste on lower rank missions.  
It doesn't get better, even after they prove they are better than you. And trust me, Minato did prove me that. But you _have_ to force yourself to let it go and trust them to have learned enough."

Artemis shook her head. "I have never let my own apprentices take something like this… Zoë sometimes takes some hunts without me, on her insistence, but I'm available for when she needs me."

"…You are overprotective," Jiraiya told for her brutally. "You are weakening them. Sure, they are among the best, but they also expect you there to bring them out of whatever problem they find themselves into. You have to let them take risks and make mistakes, and most important, make them _think_ at least that they are on their own while doing it."

Artemis just rested her face in her hand, elbow propping it on the table, her silence by itself acknowledging his words. "But I am the goddess of the Hunt there. They are the Hunt. I am supposed to be there for them. To protect them."

"Then you better make what you did to Naruto on that character trial thing, trick them into thinking that you are not able to help for a bit and use it to train them to fight for themselves. Because, from what Naruto told me, something _big_ is coming and you may not be able to do it then."

"He told me too, about what Ares' actions were supposedly caused by," Artemis said with a frown. "My father is hiding it if he was told. He seems to be preparing for something to happen… but my father is paranoid anyways."

"A good tactic to avoid panic in the population, but only if he doesn't believe the others would keep themselves quiet while doing their own jobs to prepare."

"As I said, he is paranoid," Artemis shrugged. "And as you said, I _am_ overprotective… but with them, I can't help but be. Most of them were in a bad state when I recruited them. They idolize me as their savior, and when I say I have to leave for long I sent them to Camp Half-Blood, to have others to keep them safe until I get back. They dislike it but stay put.  
But Naruto doesn't act like them… even if I made him a girl for a while and told him to protect them in my place I think he would make them rebel just so they'd go after me with him. I don't know which of the three he got it from, I just know he would."

Jiraiya snorted. "Lady, if I got something from my time with you, _all_ three would do something like that, just for different reasons or justifications. So if he got it from _any_ of you he'd do it in a heartbeat."

Artemis just smiled a bit, something rare while being with the lecher. She really couldn't say anything, and neither could the other two if they were there…

"Heh, but your comment about turning into a girl reminds me of that prank he does. Too bad henge isn't acceptable for staying in that Hunt of yours, the kid is a genius with it. That female form of it…" he finished with a twisted smile that disgusted Artemis.

"Henge… it's that illusion where the user pretends to be someone else, right?"

"Not really, it is more like a transformation into someone or something else. The problem of it is that it needs lots of attention to detail and if the user is distracted enough it is broken. Using it a lot would be a good chakra control and multitasking exercise, but… well, his chakra control is a lot better, but still sucks."

"As if I could say anything, I can barely use chakra at all," she snorted. "I can do kawarimi, and Naruto taught me to summon Palicos. That's it."

"Wait, you can use chakra?" the toad sage eyed her strangely. "But Naruto said no one from your world seemed to."

"And they don't. I kinda cheated," she admitted with a shrug.

"How? How do you 'cheat' at using chakra?" Jiraiya asked, confused.

Artemis tapped her chin with her finger, thinking on how to explain it. "Well, chakra is the mix of spiritual and physical energy in your chakra system. My problem is, I don't have a chakra system to do this mixing.

Remember when I said could only use the kawarimi? That's because I am using my divine powers to create a bastardized chakra. But that kinda wastes much more energy than you would so my control is shot, which is why I can't use either of the other two basic techniques. Maybe if I trained in it, but I favor my usual skills already."

Jiraiya nodded… and then blinked. "And what does that mean to Naruto? I mean, he did use your powers to summon Ace."

Artemis blinked herself.

"…as far as I know? He can use chakra in my world. He was born with a chakra system, so his body can use divine energy as just another source of chakra. I have no idea if someone without it could use chakra like that there. I don't even really use my powers offensively much since I favor archery."

Jiraiya nodded. "And speaking of your world, _how_ did you get to our world anyway?"

"I… don't know about the first time," she admitted. "I was fighting a monster at one moment, and was there the next. The second time I just visited the Kami in the orient though, since they are the same in both worlds. From then on, I just use Selene.

Anyway, about him turning into a female… do you think it would be possible he could stay in that shape long enough to join my Hunt, even if just for a bit?" she asked, hopeful. She had no idea if that would be enough, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Hmm… not for now, but if I tell him why we would focus so much on the henge, both about the chakra control and for the chance to spend some time with you and your apprentices… I'd give him half a year tops. Give me a full one to make sure he got it as much as he could though."

Artemis nodded with a grateful smile. They may not agree in may things, but they both wanted to make amends for the time away from Naruto in their own ways.

IIIII

Naruto jumped backwards, avoiding the two-clawed stomp from the Gore Magala… just to be hit in the gut by the stones that rose from the strength of the attack.

He rolled painfully before taking a deep breath, as clean of the dark mist as he could be.  
He had only seen something raise the earth with a punch once before…

'Holy crap, that must have been as strong as a punch from Baa-chan to do that!'

But he had no time to think about that, being forced to roll to the side as the beast shot a ball of dark flames to where he was—

"What the—"

The first sphere of dark energy exploded on the ground… and then caused two more explosions right beside it, followed by a fourth and fifth beside the other two making a line. When he noticed what happened it was too late for the young hunter to avoid, being thrown aside by the strength of the explosions.

But the pain was the least of his problems.

He could feel it now. Feel it penetrating his skin where the explosion hit, circling in his blood, spreading through his body.

He had only two option: either he let himself be weakened during the fight or he fought as hard as he could against both Gore Magala and the Frenzy in his head.

…Yeah, he didn't really have much of a choice.

Standing up, he threw himself on the direction of the beast, pole vaulting with his glaive on its back. As weird as it sounded, he thought it'd be the safest place – he was surrounded by the surprisingly nimble wings and the beast would try to shake him off, but at least he wouldn't be surprised by the new _area_ attacks while he was up there.

And try to shake him off it did. Jumping around and twisting its body, beating its wings together and one at a time, Naruto was forced to hold on with both hands.

In the end, it was a question of which one would tire first. And it had been Gore Magala, which fell on the ground in all six.  
Naruto wasted no time, drawing his carving knife and stabbing at the shoulder, where the wing connected to the body.

All it did was chip at the exoskeleton.

But it apparently still felt pain, as the beast let out a loud roar. Holding himself until it stopped, Naruto kept at the stabs, trying to break through the though natural armor of the beast.

It started trashing around again, but Naruto was relentless in his stabs until finally, with a crack, the shell broke and the blade went deep inside, exposing the beast's… golden flesh?

Naruto was forced to put it out of his mind as the beast toppled in pain and he was thrown away with its fall.

But it did its job. The Frenzy was active and boosting his abilities, not diminishing them.

Oh yes, it was boosting them. He felt like he could do anything. Fight anything. _Defeat_ anything.

 _I can defeat anything! I can destroy anything, anyone!  
I can finally pay back all the suffering given to me, all the suffering they let me go through!_

'What.'

Naruto stopped at that thought. No, he wasn't like that, he didn't want to—

 _Oh yes, I want to.  
Been wanting for years. To make the villagers suffer like they made me suffer. But I held back. Because of Iruka-sensei, the sensei that admitted to hating me for most of that time.  
Because of the old man. The old man that knew who my parents were yet kept quiet._

"No, no, I'm not like that. I—"

How he really was Naruto was not able to say, for he was too occupied avoiding the attack from the already-up Gore Magala.

But the voice in his head, _his own voice_ , did not seem to share his concerns about survival.

 _Stop denying. You admitted it when talking to Gaara already, why hide it from yourself?_

'I admitted to _once_ wanting to do it. I don't anymore!' he screamed in his mind, this time avoiding the "expanding line" blast properly. It wasn't as dangerous now that he was already infected, but it was still an explosion to the face.

 _Liar._

Naruto frowned as he rolled to the side and attacked the flank of the charging beast, leaving a deep golden gash leaking a purple liquid. 'Who are you?'

 _Stop pretending you don't know._

Naruto shook his head, jumping under the Gore Magala's legs and hitting it's belly before it was able to get some distance.

Noticing what he did only after it _did_ get some distance and Naruto himself was trying to hit its head instead of trying to evade the next attack.

Really, the ball of darkness to the chest felt more like justice for stupidity than anything else.

'You're the fox!' Naruto accused, rolling to avoid the stomp from the beast. He never met the fox, but that anger and malice… he finally remembered it when he fought Haku, or when he healed the hole he got from Sasuke.

Using the glaive to give himself an impulse, he rolled back under the beast, trying to get out of reach of its wing hands.

 _That would be so convenient, wouldn't it? If I was the fox?  
Too bad. I really am you._

"Liar!" he yelled, ducking under the left wing and cutting a gash on it. "I do not think like that! I do not think like you!"

 _Of course you'd say that. I am the part of you that you deny.  
I am the part of you that is angry. The part of you that admits the grudges it holds.  
The part of you that hates._

"Shut up!" he yelled again, trying to make a second attack.

But he was upset, not thinking right. He stood in place trying to make the second attack.

His opponent… did not.

He could only notice the lack of an impact with his weapon before he was caught and squeezed by an angry wing claw.

 _Why should I? You are finally listening to me. Listening to what you really think._

"Because I'm in a battle of life and death you idiot!" he kept yelling, avoiding the slash from Gore Magala's claw… then putting the glaive in front to block the other one, avoiding having it try to pierce his armor but still being thrown by the strength of the hit.

 _Then stop fighting.  
Oh, but you don't want to do it, do you?_

"Of course not!" Naruto agrees while standing up to a crouching position by rolling to the side. "If I stop, who else will stop it? How many will die?"

 _Stop pretending you are hunting to help. You are hunting because it is the only thing keeping you alive._

"No! I started hunting because I wanted to get stronger, but it is more than that now! I want to help everyone! But I need to get stronger to do that, so I hunt more and help more people at the same time!"

Gore Magala charged, Naruto avoiding it by quickly jumping to the side.

 _Liar.  
Everything you cherish is a lie. Everything you fight for is a lie.  
Your only truth is the thrill of the hunt._

"You're the liar!"

Without stopping, it bounced on the wall of the cliff, going for a second lunge. Naruto rolled to avoid it.

 _Your team is broken. Sakura only cares for Sasuke. She knew your feelings about her yet asked you to bring him back to her._

"She was worried about him! He is—oof!" Naruto could not avoid the third consecutive lunge, being hit by the wing and thrown aside like a ragdoll.

"He is our teammate, and he was kidnapped by the snake bastard. I'd have given my all to bring him back even if she hadn't asked!"

The beast tried lunging again, but this time Naruto was prepared, using the glaive to jump over it and landing on its back.

 _Kakashi only cares about Sasuke. He abandoned Sakura when she lost in the exam and tossed you to the side to train Sasuke personally._

"The bastard was going against Gaara!" Naruto answered, holding on for dear life as the dragon-like monster jumped around. "Even if I'm not happy with being thrown aside with someone else, he needed the help more just to survive!"

 _And what about Sakura?_

He got no answer to that.

 _Sasuke only cares about Sasuke. He tried to join the person who killed the old man and admitted he was willing to kill you for power._

"But he didn't!" Naruto countered, gripping as hard as he could. "He told me himself he could get power by killing me, but in the end he just knocked me out and left!"

 _Jiraiya does not care for you. He only sees you as a jinchuuriki and an asset,_ maybe _as your father's son but not as his godson. He threw you from a ravine because he was not satisfied with you not using the fox's chakra to summon his toads even though you didn't need it then. He taught you your father's technique as a bribe to help him with Tsunade._

He was thrown aside by the beast.

His hands were trembling as he stood up. He did not believe the words. He did not.

Yet, deep down…

 _The campers only see you as a curiosity. They only treated you well when they thought you were related to them, or after you proved yourself. Selfish, self-centered lot._

He couldn't deny that one. As much as he tried to forgive them.

He couldn't deny any of those, really. They at passed his thoughts at least once. But he pushed them aside, convinced himself he was just imagining it.

Those words though, they were just opening the wounds again.

Gore Magala tood advantage of his confusion, giving him a swipe with its left claw. Naruto was thrown, not to a wall, but down one of the "steps", painfully on his back.

 _Artemis only looked for you because you could have got her powers. She only cares for you because you are focused in her area. She does not care for you as an individual. She sees you as her soldier and not as her son, just like the other gods do to their children._

He rolled on his fours, the pain on his back not letting him stand up right away.

Gore Magala did not care as it jumped right behind him.

 _She let her Hunters, the ones she_ really _sees as her family, beat you up, and put you to a test to prove yourself to them. Her Hunters are invited and accepted on her word, but_ you _had to suffer to be accepted to her family._

He was losing.

Not just to the monster, but to the voice inside his head.

Before Gore Magala could send his explosive frenzy shot, he stuck the glaive to the ground and pulled the trigger, being sent airborn over its head. But this time he didn't have the presence of mind to hold onto it, bouncing on the hard shell and rolling painfully on the ground.

 _Her Hunters use their past as an excuse to treat everyone not of them or a potential new recruit badly. You were only treated well because Artemis herself made you prove you were worthy of their time. And if you failed she was going to desert you.  
Where are the people to accept how you act despite _your _past? Nowhere._

Before Naruto could do anything, he was grabbed and thrown painfully to the wall, bouncing back to the ground on his back.

He tried standing, but Gore Magala stopped him by stepping on his chest.

 _There is no one there for you. For us. For me._

"Shut… up…" Naruto said, trying to push away the claw. It did not actually hurt him yet, his armor protecting him from being pierced, but it was slowly giving way to the pressure and he would have his ribs crushed, along with their insides.

 _Gaara had the right idea. You should love yourself, and only yourself._

"Shut up!"

The beast roared, charging a shot point-blank at his face.

 _Because no one else really loves you._

"SHUT! UP!"

Without a thought, Naruto swung his left arm, hitting Gore Magala in the right cheek with his fingers.

Naruto's eyes widened.

The arm was covered in red chakra. He could feel it flowing through his coils, despite the world itself rejecting the chakra coils and closing them just by being there.

And five gashes were clear on Gore Magala's face, deeper than any other strike until then.

The wound was not golden this time, but an angry red.

Gore Magala roared in fury, before taking flight.

Not good.

He knew what the red chakra was, but right now he did not care for the how or why. He raised his right arm, forming a rasengan red like the chakra.

Gore Magala dove. Before Naruto could do anything but bend a bit to the side, its fangs were piercing his left shoulder.

Naruto's left arm promptly circled its neck, holding it in place, and his right hand went with its deadly cargo to the top of the beast's head, grinding the horn-like feelers until they broke.

It tried to roar in pain and escape, but the Kyubi-powered Naruto held it firmly in place. With a quick foot movement, he kicked the glaive in the ground to his now-free hand and, without hesitation, shoved it as hard as he could on the side of Gore Magala's head.

The beast stopped struggling.

Naruto fainted on his feet.

But not without hearing a final taunt.

 _You know I am right.  
I know.  
I am your true self, after all._

IIIII

Naruto was taken quickly to take medical treatment by the rescue felynes. That was their job after all.

His glaive was recovered easily, just sliding out of Gore Magala's head with a firm pull, but it would need a good cleaning and sharpening before using again.

The beast was confirmed as dead, and left there until a proper transport team could take it away.

Naruto did not wake up the whole night, a dark bite mark on his shoulder.

IIIII

In the dead of the night, Gore Magala's corpse moved.

An unknown red energy roared around it. Its six limbs, tail and neck twisted as if in agony.

Then, its back cracked.

A new being emerged from Gore Magala's shell. A being not unlike the dark creature with a beautiful coat of golden scales that glittered under the moonlight that made it seem like an emissary of the sun itself, and red eyes that seemed like they held flames inside them.

And five claw-like marks on the right side of its face.

It roared, opening its wings and flying into the night sky.

The Heaven's Wheel has returned.

IIIII

 **Fun fact, despite people saying so in fanfics, nothing in the manga (or anime) says that Naruto's transformation are anything out or ordinary besides their creativity… including the ones used against Pein or, much earlier, turning into a perfectly functional Fuma Shuriken – including shape, weight and (consequently) density so it could fly perfectly in the shadow of the first one Sasuke threw – which proves they are** _ **actual**_ **transformations and not just illusions, or turning into someone of the opposite gender.**

 **In the words of Altered Nova in TFF,  
"**Yeah it's fanon. Naruto has used henge in ways few other ninja ever do, (turning into inanimate objects, fusing with another person, convincingly disguising himself as a _rasenshuriken_ ) so some writers decided that the only reasonable explanation is that his henge is special.

They have a point that it's really weird that no one else ever uses that incredibly versatile jutsu as often as Naruto does, but they forget or ignore that there *are* other characters have have used the Henge to do things just as crazy as anything Naruto did with it. Enma transforming into a diamond hard staff definitely tops Naruto transforming into a big shuriken, Kiba and Akamaru combining into a giant two-headed dog was almost as impressive as Naruto and Gamabunta combining into a giant fox, and Kiba fusing with Akamaru and his own shadow clone to... wait, why hasn't Naruto ever used Konbi Henge with his own shadow clones? Holy shit imagine how badly he could abuse that jutsu combination! **"**

 **About the ending… yeah, I got no acceptable explanation but telling my reasoning.  
Karin got the ability of healing others by being bitten, and the closer to an official explanation we got is… because she is an Uzumaki and her vitality is so strong it manifests through her skin. Not much else is told, so it is speculated that it may be an enhancement by Orochimaru, but that is what is known for sure.  
Now, we know Naruto is an Uzumaki, with **_**plenty**_ **of vitality, but as far as we know he doesn't have this ability, because… well, he never healed anyone by being bitten, and as far as we know neither did his mother.  
BUT, here it is not just Naruto. It is Naruto souped up in Kurama's Yang chakra. In canon **_**and**_ **on the flashback in this story, at the VotE, it increased his natural healing to the point it healed a fist-sized hole in Naruto's chest in seconds. And there is canon people that became pseudo-jinchuuriki by eating Kurama's chakra as long as they survived.**

 **I know, it is leap in logic.  
But it is something that has canon bases, as ridiculous as they sound, and I never saw this in another Naruto fic.**

 **Ah, and addressing something a reader already reviewed me about...  
No, Naruto won't become emo. Naruto does not do emo, he either tries to shove it inside until Dark Naruto assumes control in an explosion of Kurama's chakra, or he freezes until he got enough pep talk.  
This is just the Falls of Truth being caused earlier due to Frenzy Virus.  
**


	15. Calamity

**So, I got a review that was apparently against Naruto using Oiroke to join the Hunt for a while. I'd like to ask if anyone agree with the complaint and why (since the person did not go into the why they didn't want it).  
It would not be a permanent change, starting some time before and ending right at the beginning of Titan's Curse, and most of the time he would be transformed would happen offscreen. It would allow him and the Hunt some relationship development, since they would be able to see the other's good and bad sides unbiased. And finally, in the Capture the Flag game I'd be able to put two Narutos fighting against each other with different weapons and fighting styles, each with their own army trying to counter the other's strategy.  
I see no downside to it. It's not like it would be a permanent change that would turn this into a fem!Naruto story.**

 **Also, just a warning, Dark Naruto is** _ **really**_ **biased to see the dark side of** _ **everything**_ **, as far as Naruto can know. Sometimes you'll see things in the story that counter his arguments, others times things are taken out of context by sheer seeing them from the worst point of view.**

IIIII

"I saw it myself," Naruto heard the Ero-sennin's voice as he woke up. "Whatever it was that ate it, it left only the carapace behind, with just a large gash on the back.  
But I was able to convince them to let Smithy take the remains."

He was feeling bad. It felt like he was weak, couldn't think well. And his shoulder hurt more than ever.

He tried opening his eyes, only to be blinded by the light and groan in pain.

Instantly he heard two voices call his name… Temie and Ero-sennin.

"Here, drink this," Jiraiya said, tipping a cup of water in his mouth. He did so, relieving his throat.

"My shoulder hurts… And I feel weak"

"As it should," replied Artemis, sounding angry. "Your shoulder was shredded by the bite, you would have bled to death if not for your healing. As it is, you're lucky all you seem to keep is a scar and feeling weak for a bit."

"I… I'm sorry…"

"Brat, trust me, you're not as sorry as the Ace Commander and the Guildmaster. She verbally ripped them a new one, and only didn't do it physically because she wanted to be here when you woke up," Jiraiya said with a smile.

"Where are we, by the way?" Naruto asked, looking around. The surroundings were familiar, but it couldn't be…

There was a one-way mirror on the door, letting Naruto see an ANBU.

"Sorry, but we can't visit the rest of the village. Tsunade-hime declared our presence secret after almost breaking our arms for letting you fight that beast," Jiraiya said with a shudder at the memory.

Artemis shuddered too, but she had a proud smirk in her face.

"Why here, though?" he asked, confused.

"She is the third best physicist I ever met, and the other two would either take too long to find or I can't take you to him myself. Since, you know, I wasn't even supposed to be with you," Artemis explained. "Ace did the transportation while Calico stabilized you."

"Ah, so they are well. Good, I… wasn't able to pay attention to much after I got some of Frenzy Virus to the face…"

"Ace mentioned that, something about yelling at someone while attacking without bothering to evade much.  
He also mentioned something I think Tsunade should be here to talk about."

Naruto nodded.

It didn't take long for the Godaime Hokage to arrive, a serious expression on her face as she entered the room… until the door closed, when it was substituted by one of relief.

"Welcome back, brat," she said with a smile.

IIIII

"I don't know _how_ I was using chakra, much less what I am sure was the Kyubi's. But at the time I was having a hard time thinking at all, so I made the stupid plan of taking advantage of the attack to hold it in place to use a rasengan on it. If I had a second chance I'd jump to the side, I'd be risking a wing to clip me but I'd be at its back and get free shot."

"Hah! I knew it!" Jiraiya cried happily. "And sensei yelled at me when he found out I tried to make you unlock the chakra by throwing you down that ravine—"

"You did _what_?" yelled two horrified and extremely angry women.

"Oh sh—"

IIIII

"But how could he use the beast's chakra? I mean, from what he told me he felt like his chakra pathways were unusable, shouldn't that stop him from using chakra?" Artemis asked Tsunade.

"Owww…"

"I cannot say, I've never been there," Tsunade said. "But I have a theory… You see, the Tailed Beasts have a _really_ strong chakra. It would be painful, but I believe Naruto could use it to force his pathways open back, at least while it was flowing through him. It'd be extremely painful, but…"

"But the Frenzy Fever would make him ignore the pain," Artemis agreed.

"Owww…"

"Shut up!" both woman said to the mound of bruises that was once Jiraiya.

"It's not like you never went through worse," said Tsunade.

Ignoring them, Jiraiya moaned his way to a chair, and threw himself there. Then moaned his way to sitting properly.

"Does—ouch, does it really matter? He used the fox' chakra twice now. That means he now knows what to do."

"No, it does not," corrected Naruto.

"It does not?" repeated Jiraiya, surprised. "What do you mean it does not?"

"The first time I was too angry to even notice it, I only found out when Kakashi-sensei told me about it later. And this time I had no way to think it was even possible, and wasn't thinking straight thanks to the Frenzy."

Jiraiya frowned, disappointed but pensative, already imagining some ways of drawing out the Kyubi for Naruto that wouldn't get him a beating from those two. He was pretty sure it would be worse than that other time he got Tsunade angry had it been a fresh happening.

Giving him a warning glare, Tsunade and Artemis put their attention back on Naruto.

"Usually it'd take much longer brat, but since it is you I give you a week before you can leave and go back to risking your life," Tsunade said with a smile.

His eyes widened. "I need to stay here for a week? Without meeting anyone?"

"I didn't say that, brat. You can go anywhere by the end of the day already, but you'll be weaker and sluggish for about a week. I suggest you take this time studying or meditating."

Naruto nodded, although he had no idea what good meditating would do. But at least it was something to try to do while recovering, reading was much more interesting than he thought and with the necklace Temie got him from Athena he didn't have to worry about kanjis, but too much still tired his head.

"Well, I better tell the Hunt Naruto is better then," Artemis said with a relieved smile.

That made Naruto rise his eyebrows.

"Oh wow, I didn't even think about them until now. Sorry Temie, spending so much time away from your Hunt with me, and now this…"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Artemis replied. "While this one is the main me, we Gods can create duplicates when our domain is invoked. I rarely used them, they are far from as good as you Shadow Clones now that you found out this memory thing," she shot a dark glance at Jiraiya at that, she still had trouble accepting one of the most famous ninjas didn't know about it, "since mentally I am on both places at once so it takes some skill to use, but they are perfect for me to both stay with you and watch out for them."

Naruto nodded, smiling. That voice in his head, it _was_ wrong. He had no idea why he even doubted it.

 _Only because you already proved yourself to them. Already proved you were worthy associating with._

His smile faltered.

 _Didn't you see the look of disappointment in the pervert's face when he found out you didn't know how to use the chakra? How pensive he got?  
Was he really worried for _you _?_

'How…'

 _I am you. I always was, and always will be.  
The frenzy only gave me a higher voice._

"Naruto? Are you alright?" Artemis asked, drawing him out of his internal discussion.

"Uh? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about the battle." It wasn't exactly a lie.

"That reminds me, you need to make your after-action report. Just because you defeated the one we knew about doesn't mean that was the only one."

Naruto nodded.

IIIII

Time passed.

Even though he had been hurt badly, and Artemis chewed them off for not allowing her to go with him, Naruto was congratulated on his victory. From reading his report, it was as if he was prepared for a Zinogre that can't charge and met one that is always charged.

There was a problem with a monster in Harth, stopping their metallurgy – something they really needed to turn their ship in an airship, but Naruto dealt with it.

The worst part was the wait during the process. He did some missions here and there, but he focused his efforts on training with Jiraiya. Apparently he had talked with Kakashi during their stay in Konoha, fair since his student was hurt, and Kakashi had given him the idea of training using Shadow Clones. The _memory sharing_ of the Shadow Clones.

It had never been tried before. Not many had enough chakra to even think about it.

Naruto took to training katas using them, both with his weapons and without, like a fish to water. And just as predicted his body memorized the movement, but he had to work himself to increase his strength and speed.

Chakra control also got a big boost, he was so close to not needing a clone to make a rasengan anymore!

And it was finally happening. They were going to Cathar on a flying ship!

The engines roared beside it as Naruto watched the scene. It was beautiful, Minegarde from above. So many different places, all full of nature.

And above the clouds, their destination. Cathar.

As they entered the city, Naruto looked in awe. It looked so peaceful… the windmill was always turning with the place's wind, and there were small plantations in the middle of town. The tips of nearby mountains were clearly visible around town.

"Whoah, your whale is _humongousth_!" accidentally spat a wyverian kid around Konohamaru's age. "Do you guys have a Hunter?" he asked Naruto.

"You are speaking to him, kiddo," said the Caravaneer as he exited the now-flying Arluq. "Don't let his age fool ya, kid's one hell of a Hunter."

"So cool…"

"Take a look around town while I talk to the Elder," the Caravaneer told Naruto. "It'd be a shame if you missed the chance to some sightseeing because of my business."

Naruto was happy to accept the chance.

But soon he got bored. The others were preparing their stalls, the kid from before running around watching everything. Cathar was a beautiful and a peaceful place, but it wasn't to Naruto's tastes.

So he went to find the Caravaneer.

"Excuse me, where is the Elder's place?" he asked a young wyverian tilling the fields.

"Oh, you must be one of the people that came in the flying whale, aren't you?"

"Hehe, yeah. It is hard to forget a ship like it, isn't it?"

"That it is, that it is. I must say, I never thought I'd see a whale come flying across the sky," the young man agree. "It must have been just a long journey to Cathar… I can't remember the last time we had a visitor, and now we got a full caravan. Did you build the vessel yourselves?"

"We first built the ship with the help of the people of Harth, they are amazing builders. Seriously, the only person I've seen better is our smithy, and even him learned some things from them. That's when we got Little Miss Forge over there as his apprentice. When we found out Cathar was here in the mountains, she made the plans to turn the ship in an airship."

"Ah, I see. Well, the Elder is this way, talking to your companion on the red hat."

"Thank you."

He walked in the direction he was pointed, meeting the Caravaneer talking with an old and short wyverian in front of ancient gates held closed by purple and white ropes.

"—Village of the Crying Wind! Cathar is constantially buffeted by a celestial gale. And if ya listen… See? You can hear it! That's the sound of the wind blowing evility right back where it came from. Hmph! Take that, evility!  
We haven't got much here but Wyverians, but make yerself at home, if ya like."

"Thanks old one. We'll take y'up on that kind offer. Well, I hate to jump right into the hard questions, but have y'ever laid eyes on this Article before?"

Seemed like Naruto arrived right on time, as the Caravaneer was just asking about the Article he and The Man were looking for so much.

"We came all the way to Cathar to figure out w—"

"Ack! Eek! Gods and Monsters!"

'W-what?'

"Is that a—Don't tell me it's a—Where did ya get that, young'un? Speak up!"

That confused Naruto, and apparently confused the Caravaneer too. But the older man brushed the confusion aside.

"Aha, so ya know what it is. Stupendous! Let's just say it fell into my hands. Now finish yer dang sentences and tell me what it _is_ – please!"

"It's a bad omen, that's what it is," the elder grumbled. "It spells nothing but trouble to me and the other villagers."

Nevertheless, the elder sat down and told them the story…

"Way back before time was time, there was a terrible calamity at Heaven's Mount. Monsters lost their minds – they went berserkers and started tearin' everything in sight apart. Nobody knows why. Soon Heaven's Mount was no better than a field of corpses and carcasses. The history book, if ya believe 'em, describified the whole affair as the 'winds of evility consuming the mount'. I say it's one big fairy tale, but people have their superstitions. That 'Article' of yers comes from the site of the Calamity, where the winds of Evility struck. Ever since the place's been known as the Sanctuary. Nobody's allowed inside no more."

"The Sanctuary?" the Caravaneer asked, confused.

"Yep. The land protected by the sigil. Anyway, let's get one thing clear! You keep that 'Article' thing under yer har, yah era? Hmph."

The Caravaneer nodded and left, meeting the watching Naruto on the way.

"'Hmph' is right. Something tells me we haven't squeezed all the secrets out of him just yet, Kindred Hunter."

"We?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Of course we. Ye saved the article from being lost, joined Capital C and been in the hunt most of the way. And I bet ya's curious as well. Don't worry, we will figure out the secrets. We got too far to turn back!

So! Let's do the rounds and see what other info turns up."

They went their separate ways, the Caravaneer to search for more info and Naruto to think. He didn't really think much about it, but this whole time Capital C was working on searching for the Article's origins. If they found it…

 _Capital C may be over and done with._

He shook his head. Better not think about it, and ignore the voice.

"Hey, Doodle!" Sophia called. Thankful for a distraction, he went to her.

"I know it took a while, but I got a Quest for you that is different from anything else you've ever done."

Naruto tilted his head. "Different how?"

"It's called Advanced: Odd Ape Out."

"From the name, I guess it's a though one."

"Uh-hu! You have to hunt a Congalala, but the Guild sent along some unnerving fine print… 'This Congalala does not exhibit normal behavior. Use extreme caution.'"

"Well, that sounds… interesting."

"Great minds think alike."

"Poor you," Naruto joked.

"Hey! …wait, did you just call yourself dumb?"

Naruto shrugged. Someone _had_ to make that joke.

"You'll be hunting in Heaven's Mount. Have you been there yet?"

"Nope. This is my first time coming here, Sophia…"

"Oh, right, right. It's just that sometimes the Gathering Hall gives some missions to around here…

Well, the mountain's peak is just above the clouds, like this town, so it almost looks like it's floating in midair… Or course, there's a trade-off for all that scenic beauty. You have to watch for falling rubble and tricky terrain. And let's not even get into the ancient ruins of who-knows-when or all the viscious monsters…yikes!

Er… and by 'yikes' I mean 'yay'. Aren't you excited to check it out?"

"…Well, I won't lie…"

"What better reason to visit the Heaven's Mount than to hunt a Congalala?"

Why not? This way he'd also be able to try his new armor made from the remains of Gore Magala's exoskeleton.

IIIII

"Ok, I really should work on convincing Sophia to write a travel's book sometime. Her descriptions are spot-on!

Now, where's that giant monkey…"

The Congalala was in a mini-jungle area near a waterfall, fighting a bunch of Ioprey – or, as Naruto liked to think of them, big red venon jaggis. Sure, he was being unfair and they were more like red venom velociprey, but velociprey were just big jaggis to him anyway.

This was the first time he saw a Congalala fighting another non-herbivorous monster, though. Or really, any monster at all fighting another non-herbivorous. He climbed to the net of trees above to be able to watch it…

He looked as the Congalala threw the opponents around like if they were pillows, one of them almost hitting him. That Congalala was _much_ more aggressive than usual, true, with red eyes and bags under its eyes in a sick purple and blowing a black mist in its breath just like Gore Magala's…

Well that was definitely bad.

Before Naruto could even think of asking for help, the Congalala jumped after him, forcing the blond to jump away from his hiding spot.

The Congalala _roared_ , but the roar sounded… weird, pained.

It charged, trying to jump on top of Naruto. The boy was able to evade, but the shockwave was strong enough to make him lose his balance enough the beast was able to stand up again before he recovered. It wasted no time clawing at him, and did not even flinch as the kinsect cut its face. Raising its arms, it punched the ground hard, not as hard as Gore Magala but hard enough the pressure threw Naruto away even though it missed.

Not surprising, all of those were moves the Congalala was known for. But… the aggressiveness, the speed, the power, they were all an order of magnitude higher.

Naruto went to the offensive, imagining anything new would have been used by now. He waited until the Congalala jumped over him, running away enough from the impact point he wouldn't be unbalanced, and jumped back on top of it, mounting the beast.  
He began stabbing.

The blood was weird too. While usually a Congalala's blood is red, just like a human's, this one was purple. Like Gore Magala's again.

He was not liking so many similarities.

Soon the beast collapsed under the Hunter's attack, leaving itself open. Naruto took advantage of it to attack it as much as possible.

The Congalala replied in the manner typical of its kind.

By farting on his face.

Between the gagging, the hunt for a deodorant so the smell stops affecting him and the relief that this helmet came with a mask, Naruto didn't notice a difference in the smell, but did notice one in the… _sound_? Seriously, what changes the _sound_ of a fart?

He was confused, but still evaded the claw of the Congalala. Seriously, it was acting more aggressively, true, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

The Congas, smaller versions of the gorilla-like monkey with shaggy heads instead of that pointy pompadour it had, approached to help their leader. This did not bode well for Narut—

Did it just punch a Conga to death? Did that Congalala just punch a Conga do death and throw it at hi—son of a…

The Conga hit Naruto square in the chest, throwing him down. The Congalala took advantage of it to hit Naruto with a barf attack, which shot a stream of high-pressure vomit that had the effect of paralising him even further.  
On his sideview he could see Ace and Calico, both also paralyzed.

Naruto tried throwing himself aside to avoid the charge from the monkey, but his body only started answering _after_ being smashed by the fast weight of the fanged beast.

A charge that made Naruto feel like he had just been hit by one of Gore Magala's explosions, since he could feel the sick intruder penetrating his skin to his veins.

Yup, that made it official. That Congalala was definitely suffering from Frenzy.

He rolled away to stand up, ready to counter the Congalala…

The Congalala that… was… not… moving?

"It's dead," declared Calico. "I don't think it resisted whatever happened to it."

Naruto knew what happened. He didn't know how, but he did know what.

IIIII

Patched up, although weakened due to the Frenzy Virus, Naruto returned to Cathar, serious.

"Why hello there! How goes the hunting in Heaven's Mount?" asked the smiling wyverian he asked for directions earlier.

"Oh, hello. Hunting there today was… different. The location was great though."

"It is a wondrous place, isn't it? But also treacherous: the footing can be poor and the terrain tough to navigate. Not to mention the dangerous monsters."

Naruto smiled. Talking with this guy felt great, he was always smiling and upbeat. It was like talking with a civilian version of Lee.

"Listen, is there anything I can do to help? I'd hate to see you come to any harm."

"Don't worry about it. I just need to get used to the area."

"Oh, ok. I'll talk to the Elder so you can visit there from sometimes just to get used to the area."

"You don't have to—"

"Don't worry about it. All I can do to help."

Naruto could only nod and thank him.

What a nice guy.

The talk with the Elder would not be as nice though…

"Ah Hunter, why the long face?" the elder asked as Naruto approached.

"Well, the Congalala I was hunting on Heaven's Mount… it kinda went berserk…"

The elder promptly fell from his chair.

"…What's that? B-b-berkerk? Gods and Monsters, that's terrifible!"

"And then he died. By himself."

"That sounds like the Calamity all over again! Grrr… Nngh… Darn-blast it! I'll just bite the bullet and report this to the Grand Guru. There's no other w-w-way."

"Tell him it was a lot like the Frenzy Virus that was infecting the Hunters some time ago, it infected me a bit but on me it was just the Frenzy instead of this deadly, berserker version. I thought we got rid of the vector but…"

"That means the virus adaptated itself to infect both humans and monsters," the elder explained. "We are lucky the kind that it is less deadly to is us, usually it works the other way around. Even so…"

"By the way, who is the Grand Guru? I thought you were the village leader…"

"The Grand Guru is a hallowed figure who's been protecting the mountain for ages. His home is the shrine, right past these gates right behind me. Generations of Grand Gurus have residified there. They are not permitted to leave.

Ah, I just had an idea. What we need is accuratiable informations."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. Should he feel offended?"

"Well, not to claim you are wrong, but more than one case is needed to claim this is the same disease. Maybe it infecteded you because it got too close to the original source once, and what killed it was something else. We need a second case."

'All the way from the Ancestral Steppes?' Naruto thought, but nodded.

"I hate to put you in the trouble, but could you head to Heaven's Mount and check on the monsters?"

"I guess so. Shouldn't be too hard…"

"If any of them are acting funny, like berserk funny, report to me on the triple. Got it?"

IIIII

"Doodle, the boss has been acting very strange lately," said Sophia as Naruto approached to tell her about the mission he accepted.

"Weird how?"

"I think he wants answers about the frenzied monster you met and is frustrated that he can't just go find any. Don't be surprised if he ups and vanishes looking for a clue all of a sudden like some bird you scared away. That's just how he is.

But enough about him, what's with that look of determination on your face?"

"I told the elder about it and he gave me a mission to check some of the monsters in the mountain to see if that wasn't an isolated case."

Sophia nodded. "I'm ahead of you. I already got you an official quest to check it out!"

"Uh. Cool."

"From what the Dragonseer found, there is a Zinogre, a Seltas Queen and a Rathalos in the mountain. A Peerless Hunter, a Weighty Empress and a King of the Skies."

"And they are conveniently some monsters you don't have in your sketchbook."

"…Coincidence."

"Right…"

IIIII

"Good doggy! Good lightning-shooting giant doggy!"

IIIII

"Two can play this game Seltas Queen!"

"Kruki?"

"See? Now you are not the only one with two heads! Let's go Ace!"

"Put me down! I am not a hat!"

IIIII

"And with this one goes three," Naruto sighed, sitting on the bench of the Street Cook's stand. "And still no sign of another frenzied monster."

"That's good, right?" asked Calico.

"Meh, it is but… I don't know, I'd call it a gut feeling but…"

"Gut feelings are important," countered Ace. "Sometimes it is all we have going for us in battle."

"Point, but… I don't know if I'm experienced enough to trust those yet. Maybe it's just paranoia."

"Hello friend, how are you?" asked the smiling farmer, passing nearby.

"I'm fine, I guess. I should think positive."

"That's a good point of view. Too bad I am feeling a bit too troubled to follow your advice."

That surprised Naruto, who left the stoll and approached the older man. "Is there any way I could help?"

"I can't say… A strange wind has been blowing on Heaven's Mount of late. Something just isn't right."

"I know," Naruto confessed. A Congalala went berserk, seemed to be infected with a virus a creature was spreading among Hunters. But we couldn't find another one infected. It is a good thing, but…"

"But you cannot help yourself about this feeling either. Understandable. Thank you for worrying about our safety."

"It was no problem," Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head.

The young man was pensive for a while.

"Did you know there's a Sanctuary on Heaven's Mount?"

Naruto tilted his head, confused about the non-sequitur.

"Long ago, the creatures there fought and killed each other in what was known as the 'Calamity'. Accounts of the tragedy survived in our oral and written history. Some describe 'a god that descended from heaven to punish the mountain creatures'. Others speak of 'a baleful wind that carved the mountain black'. The Calamity was said to originate where the Sanctuary now lies. But the truth is lost; any first-hand witnesses to the Calamity are long dead, and none dare approach the Sanctuary."

"You think the Congalala may have been infected by going in there?"

"Hopefully so. It'd be bad if there was a second source of the Calamity somewhere."

"Doodle! Doodle!" Sophia called him.

"It seem like your work calls. I better return to mine."

IIIII

"The Guild has just issued a mission of the highest importance to every hunter," said Sophia. "…Ok, I'll admit, I'm a bit excited. Are you ready? We get to go hunt a Tigrex – the bane of every hunter! The unwritten page in my notebook! The monstrous hole in the monsterpedia that is my heart!

Sorry, got a bit excited there. According to the Guildmaster, the Guild will pile accolades upon the hunter who pulls this mission off. However, it calls for more caution than other hunts. 'EXTREEEME caution'. They wrote in caps with three E's… I wonder what all the fuss is about."

Naruto blinked. That was weird.

On the other hand, the Congalala was weird too, but wasn't that bad.

IIIII

"Doodle, I need you to listen carefully," Sophia said to Naruto, approaching him right before he departed with a Courier Palico.

"What's it Sophia?"

"I just got more info from the Guild. The monster you're about to fight, the Tigrex…it's a serious threat even under normal circumstances. But… the Guild intel says it has been exhibiting unusual behavior."

"Any chance it is what happened with the Congalala?"

"Nothing is being said. So just… be ready for anything, ok?"

IIIII

The Tigrex was on the deeper caves, eating. Not knowing what to expect, Naruto got closer carefully, on top of the cave – it was a big depression, with vines making climbing back up easier but not exactly _easy_.

About a hundred meters away, close enough to observe it with a pair of binoculars.

It seemed emaciated, but so did most Tigrexes. It looked like a big, extremely thin version of a Jaggi without the neck frills, having functioning wings under the claws of the arms instead. Its coat was red with blue stripes, and the head was bigger though. According to a dinosaur book he read, now that he knew what those were, it was like a giant, winged, extremely thin raptor with a tyrannosaur's head and ear-like small fins.

But signs were negative for the same thing that happened to the Congalala. The eye was sky-blue, and the closer to marks around the eyes were the natural blue tint of its coat. Its breath wasn't visible, much less black, and its droll as it ate the remains of… something had a green tint, not a purple one.

Thankful, Naruto did a mistake… he snapped a twig under his foot as he walked.

Hearing this, the Tigrex turned, saw Naruto… and _charged_ , breaking stone pillars on the path of his fast run to the wall in front of Naruto so it could climb it like a wall lizard. Surprised with the speed, Naruto was blindsided until the beast had already fallen right beside him, too late to avoid the tail strike that send him over 10 meters to the vines on top of the cave that formed a natural "second level".

Naruto stood up, looking pained at the beast.

It roared back in challenge.

Naruto advanced on the Tigrex. The Tigrex leaped at Naruto.

Naruto was not stupid and rolled out of the way of the giant murder machine that can charge through rock pillars without stopping because it is just that eager to smash someone.

So the Tigrex _drifted_ somehow and charged at him.

Surprised and moving on instinct, Naruto used the glaive to polevault backwards, luckily falling on top of the tigrex… which went absolutely _ballistic_! It began flailing its arms around, crawling, crawling on its back trying to scrape Naruto off, throwing itself on the walls…

But Naruto held on until the wyvern had to stop to take a breath. As soon as it did though, he stuck with his knife as deep as he could between its shoulders. And again. And again and again and again, letting the red blood fall to the ground.

The beast roared, forcing the boy to stop and hold tight. He was sure that if he was in front of it the strength of the roar would have thrown him back. Thankfully, he wasn't, and he was able to continue his assault until the beast finally fell.

Naruto promptly began swinging his glaive at the downed wyvern's head as it struggled to get up, Ace and Calico following him on the attacks to the body. In the end, when it did stand up its face had a gash on its lip and was missing an "ear-fin", and its left arm had a long gash.

Naruto jumped back to get some distance.

The flying wyvern roared.

Naruto had been right, judging by the Palicos. A close enough roar _would_ have sent him flying.

Red veins spread through the body of the Tigrex, mostly around the arms and near the now-red eyes, and the beast pushed the ground, sending a huge rock at him. Surprised, he wasn't able to avoid it, being thrown backwards by the impact.

The Tigrex charged, much faster and more aggressively than before, as hard as it was to believe. With no time to stand up, Naruto pushed the tip of the glaive to the ground and pressed the trigger, sending himself pirouetting away from the Tigrex's charge…

Only to be right on the way of the second charge when the monster drifted over 180 degrees just to face the boy again in a second charge.

This time Naruto wasn't so lucky, being stuck hard and making a small crater on the wall he hit.

Ace promptly jumped on the Tigrex' back, distracting it enough for Naruto to stand up and be healed by Calico's horn.

Naruto charged it back, running on its direction and swinging the glaive upwards. A long gash appeared on its chest and the beast roared in pain.

Then the Tigrex started moving slowly… lethargic… and put his head to the ground…

A shiver went through Naruto's spine. A shiver that only went worse as the scales around the Tigrex' eyes took a purple tinge and his breath started exhaling a black mist.

The eye opening as a shining blood red just clinched it.

"Oh… shit. If the Congalala went so worse with this…"

A pained roar threw Naruto backwards, away from the beast.

 _Did that Tigrex become a zombie?_

'If it did, does that mean if I die you control my body like one?'

 _No wish to find out. Kill it!_

'What, for real?'

 _I am you. I want you to live. Only… more like I am._

Naruto had no more time to talk to himself, as the Tigrex charged him… and past him. It seemed that whatever happened made the creature mad with pain, and Naruto was not its focus anymore.

 _You should leave it alone. It is going to die anyway._

"And risk other people be on the way of the rampage? I can't risk that!

 _Why not?_

Naruto ignored the voice easily this time.

He would _not_ let innocent people be in trouble just because it would be easier or safer for him.

He followed the frenzied Tigrex through the caves, until reaching the outside, where the beast tried flying away. He quickly pole vaulted to hit it with the glaive, making it fall to the ground in surprise.

Taking advantage of finally having the time to do so, he sent the kinsect to the beast's head, getting the Attack Essence for this. He quickly started attacking, his blade cutting the beast's body as it tried its best to stand up despite the pain. The blood flowing was now purple, and it began drooling a black liquid.

The creature spun and tried biting Naruto. The young ninja was able to avoid it though, giving it a cut on its upper lip reaching the tip of the nose for its troubles.

Angry, confused and in pain, the Tigrex charged once more, this time point-blank, carrying Naruto on its head to bash him to a wall.

Naruto replied by stabbing it in the eye with his hunting knife before pushing himself under the beast, hoping for not being trampled.

It was too close for it to stop, the Tigrex' head hitting the wall… and pushing the knife to its brain, like Naruto had hoped.

IIIII

"Those are terrible news, Doodle…"

"I know Sophia. Something is spreading the virus, it affects monsters too now, and it is not even happening only at Heaven's Mount…"

They watched the Courier take the message to the Hunter's Guild. Naruto hoped they found out a way to stop it…

IIIII

"Are you sure you guys will be alright?"

"Yes, Doodle, we will," Sophia answered, rolling her eyes.

"We were prepared for you leaving today. Nothing happened that the Guild won't be able to deal with now that they know, and we are safe here."

Naruto held back his answer to The Man, giving him a nod. He had a bad feeling though.

Little Miss Forge gave him a hug and a salute. "Yeah, don't worry about us. Just go there and do your best!"

Naruto saluted back.

After finishing his farewells to the Wycoon and the Street Cook (who gave him a basket of food), Ace opened the tunnel and he and Narutoleft for Camp Half-Blood.

And, as he crossed the tunnel, he blinked.

"Ace, am I seeing things or are the campers fighting armored bulls?"

"I think the bulls are actually made of metal, meow. And they seem to be breathing fire."

"Oh…" was all Naruto could say before he was charging.

IIIII

 **The Congalala appears much earlier, and as Naruto said besides some surprises the first Frenzy encounter was not that much harder than a normal one.**

 **The Tigrex though, at least for me, was a big deal harder.**

 **Hope I made the two battles justice, for as short as they were.**


	16. Not a Happy Camp

**Well, I got some answers about my idea of letting Naruto join the hunt with Oiroke. Unfortunately people seem to be making one misunderstanding:  
Naruto is not going to use Oiroke to fit in. He is going to use it because, as a law, Gods cannot interact with their offsprings much. But the Hunt was allowed by Zeus before this law was made – "a group of female followers" was one of the first gifts Zeus gave Artemis. Thus he can be around her freely if he joins the Hunt.  
And by joining the Hunt, I do not mean taking the Oath – that would mean he'd accept being a girl forever. The Hunt is "a group of female followers" according to the agreement (Orion and Hippolytos were not official members, but were honorary ones – something Naruto can't be due to being Artemis' offspring even if is a new way, which if you recall from chapter 1 is what prevented her from visiting earlier), so as long as it is a true transformation he'd be following the letter of the agreement already. Artemis can turn men into women but not the other way around, being the goddess of maidenhood.  
Of course, that **_**will**_ **cause a lot of friction between him and the Hunters. That is planned. I just hope I do it properly.**

 **Also, let me try to explain the Monster Hunter part for those that were a bit lost in the last two chapters…**

 **There is a game series called Monster Hunter, of which this story is also a crossover with the game released in most of the world as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (do not confuse 4U with FU, 4Ultimate is for 3ds and FreedomUnite is for psp). In it, you hunt monsters, most of them much bigger than a person. It is basically a game where you fight bosses to get pieces you use to forge equipment to fight even tougher bosses.  
Up to four Hunters can get missions, but some (story missions) you have to do alone.**

 **As you can see, I found it fitting for a story where Naruto is related to Artemis.**

 **4U has a story that goes deeper into the lore, where a character known as Caravaneer has something he found and calls an Article, it is pretty ancient and he is trying to find its origins.**

 **Up until this point it is more clearly explained in the side-story Divine Third Hunting, but I thought I had given enough information on the first book through flashbacks for people to get it. Since I got complaints of people lost, I guess it is not so.**

 **In the middle of your journey through the world in search of information, your ship is attacked by a black monster, Gore Magala. It is a monster no one ever saw before.  
After the team sent to deal with it is rescued by the main character (here, Naruto) said person is then given the mission to hunt Gore Magala, since they are the only person to already fight the monster twice and live.  
The monster has a weird ability, to make the people infected with its dark mist to suffer from something they called Frenzy Virus since if the person attack fast enough while infected they get stronger for a bit, but if they don't they get weaker. Of course, in the game the fight is the first time the Frenzy is ever seen, but here I made it so it has been spreading for a while but no one knew how.**

 **The rest you saw in the last chapters, but to summarize: Naruto got his face full of Frenzy Virus and now Dark Naruto can talk to him. Wild monsters are being infected with a mutation of the Frenzy Virus that makes them stronger when they fight for long enough but that makes them crazy aggressive with pain and after a while kills them. And after Naruto kills Gore Magala – using the Kyuubi chakra despite it supposedly being impossible and suffering a bite while doing it, then stabbing it in the brain – the body of the beast is found the other day empty of anything inside...**

… **And I have to admit, Naruto's interaction with Dark Naruto were inspired by Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.**

IIIII

"No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob, the leader of the six Laistrygonians that infiltrated the school Percy was studying at right on the last day of classes, roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"

He launched the ball in his hands, a sphere of bronze that caught on fire. The kids scattered when it blasted a crater on the floor.

Percy had no idea what the other students were seeing, but Percy had to do something to stop the monsters before they hurt any of the kids for real. He put his hand on his pocket to use his sword—

He was having gym class, meaning no pocket to summon the blade to. The blade was in the locker room, which was sealed by Joe Bob's magic. Great…

Thankfully, thanks to his training he wasn't completely defenseless without it.

As hippie and progressive a school as Meriwether was, it still had the basic safety measures. He had no idea why the sprinklers didn't activate with the balls of fire they were throwing around, but they were there, they were working…

…they had water.

A fireball was sent towards Percy. 'Too fast!', the demigod thought, before he was pushed out of the way by his big-but-immature friend Tyson.

The fireball exploded, disorienting Percy and throwing him down on the ground. "Flesh! Hero flesh for lunch!" he heard two voices say, most likely two of the cannibal giants he was fighting judging by the words.

"Percy needs help!" he heard Tyson's voice, and next thing he saw was Tyson jumping in front of him, _catching_ two fireballs with his bare hands and throw them back, disintegrating the two surprised monsters that attacked him.

No time to be amazed, do so later!

Joe Bob yelled and swore revenge, but Percy could not hear him properly due to the sound of falling water. Building pressure at a distance was hard, but he didn't need much to break the sprinkler above him.

As Tyson swatted aside another fireball thrown at the two of them, Percy raised his hand and grabbed the falling water, making a bubble in his hand. He wasn't able to make the water needles yet, too much control needed for something that small, solid and floating, but he used the idea and added it to the pressure jet that he could already do to make a version of his own.

…and with a bit of inspiration from a videogame.

"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob.

Percy answered by launching the water sphere with some of the pressure, a spear of pure water piercing the cannibal with the nametag Marrow Sucker in the chest.

It disintegrated.

Sure, it needed a lot of water, and he could only do one at a time for now, but the Water Spear _was_ effective.

 _And_ he was drenched now.

He stuck his hand back on the falling water, not even needing to shape it to make a water whip, striking back a fireball to the launcher while Tyson threw back his third one. The whip dissolved, and the ball missed, but it was a good intimidation weapon. Or at least the one labeled Skull Eater seemed a bit surprised before Tyson punched it so hard it crumpled.

Joe Bob, in his rage, was finally able to hit Tyson, throwing Tyson against the doors to the locker room and knocking them off the hinges.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled.

Tyson tried standing up from that, something that _really_ surprised Percy since he was basically hit with a flaming bronze cannonball, but fell down on his face.

Percy was not amused, but was even less when he was stuck in the belly and lifted by the neck.

"You were _almost_ more trouble than you are worthy," Joe Bob said, voice filled with malice. "I will enjoy eating you with Babycakes—"

Joe Bob stopped in the middle of his speech, a water spear piercing his heart.

Percy was still slow with it, even more when doing it without touching the water. But doing a Water Spear without touching the water he could.

Joe Bob disintegrated and Percy coughed, thankful for the air returning to his lungs.

"Seems like you've been training," said a female voice Percy recognized.

A pair of hands helped him stand up. Looking there, he saw, to his surprise, Annabeth, with a ragged backpack over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, and a wild look in her eyes.

IIIII

Things hadn't been fun after that, as much as he missed Annabeth. She was being pretty rude to Tyson despite him saving his life some times while in the battle.

And apparently there was some trouble at Camp Half-Blood. While Percy had a dream about Grover, Annabeth had dreams about the camp. And demigod dreams sometimes have much more meaning than a normal person's.

They took the Gray Sisters Taxi, a taxi service, as the name says, run by the Gray Sisters… three sisters that shared one eye and one tooth – and not always the person with the eye was the one in the driving seat.

They said something that drew Percy's attention when he was worried about dying the way they were squabbling about who would see right then though.

Apparently there was somewhere he was looking for… despite he having no idea he was looking for somewhere. He… convinced them to tell him what they meant (by holding their eye hostage. The eye they needed to drive with else they would crash at high speed killing everyone including Percy), and he got four numbers: 30, 31, 72, 12.

And so he arrived at the camp.

A camp under attack, apparently.

Percy quickly got Riptide ready, his Plesioth weapons left at home – they were expecting him to return there before going to camp.

Two elephant-sized bronze bulls were charging around and breathing fire. Twelve armored campers, armed with spears save one with a warhammer, were trying – and failing – to defeat them.

But the most important part was that the bulls were going past the barrier that protects the camp from monsters.

"Border Patrol, to me!" said a familiar female voice, confusing Percy. Border Patrol?

"That's Clarisse," Annabeth said, "We have to help her!"

Percy nodded. While her father was not his favorite god, and she was a known bully, he wouldn't just leave her behind. Or the other warriors, who with the exception of the warhammer kid, who was fighting like a man possessed, were scattered and running around.

"Tyson, stay here!"

"No! We need him!" Annabeth said, confusing Percy.

"He's mortal," he countered. "He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—"

"Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp."

"Medea's what?" he asked confused. He shook her head while the girl looked in her backpack for something, probably this sunscreen. "What does that have to do with taking Tyson? It makes things worse! I'm not going to let him get fried!"

Annabeth looked at him, confused herself… then she seemed to have figured it out. "Percy—"

"Tyson, stay back. I'm going in," the boy said and ran off, not giving them the chance to say anything else.

Clarisse tried making the rest of the patrol assume a phalanx formation, six of them listening to her, forming a spiky wall with their shields and lances.

Annabeth ran forward and threw a rock at the bull fighting warhammer kid, drawing its attention and distracting it enough it was hit by the hammer straight on the head. The kid rolled, the momentum aiding him in pulling the weapon from the ground and giving a second strike to the bull's forehead.

He looked at the hammer's head, one side seemed to have melted. He turned it around. "Two more hits, maybe three…" he said, annoyed.

The other bull charged Clarisse's line faster than its size made seem possible. Too fast for Percy to be able to help. Percy got a good look at the bull though, shiny bronze body, silver horns and rubies for eyes. It opened the hinged mouth, and some of the strongest flames he ever saw were thrown is a column.

"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered.

The shields did not hold the charge, hitting Clarisse dead-on and throwing her backwards. A breath of fire melted the shields of the others, forcing them to drop their weapons.

The bull looked around, seeing the fallen Clarisse, and charged at her.

Running as fast as he could, Percy grabbed her by the straps of her armor, luckily his inertia was greater than hers so he was able to pull her out of the way in time, but just in time, being able to feel the heat of the metal skin as it passed.

"Let me go Jackson!" Clarisse squirmed out of his hold, looking worriedly at the person that was once using the warhammer. Luckily for her he was too occupied using a lance on his bull.

But they also got problems right now. Their own bull was coming back!

Taking a page from Naruto's book, Percy waited until the bull was close enough and jumped to the side, swinging his blade and cutting out a piece of its snout. Clarisse did the same on the other side, piercing its flank with her spear.

The worst part of fighting the bull was the heat. Percy felt slightly burned just by attacking them with Riptide, he had no wish to check how warm to the touch they were.

And, as much as he trained with his water powers and wasn't as tired as he could be, he could feel Riptide weighting his arm down. He'd need to train with a sword more now that he was at camp.

The other campers followed Clarisse's lead and threw their spears at the bull. At the giant metal bull.  
Percy had no idea what to do, but he thought that unless they aimed somewhere important like him and Clarisse were doing it wasn't going to do much. Even so, at least they were doing something to help.

Angry, the bull threw another blast of fire. Percy avoided it by jumping away, but it wasn't going to be enough—

Which is when someone in a red and silver armor pushed him away, taking the flames on himself.

Everyone just stared, even the bulls, as the figure began rolling around and screaming until the flames were out.

"AAAAAAAH—I'm good now."

Percy snorted. "And once more you appear just in time to save my skin, Naruto."

Naruto shrugged. That stunt apparently got him the bull's attention, so he had to avoid its charge.

"What—How?" Clarisse asked.

"Fire-resistant Rathalos armor," a second Naruto, followed by a cat walking on two legs, answered. "He can still feel the heat and be burned, but it needs to be a higher heat than usual."

"How are there two of you?" Clarisse asked.

"Three, actually," he said, pointing to the other bull where a third Naruto was fighting it. "Didn't the others tell you guys about me being able to make copies?"

"Uhm… we kinda thought it was a secret," answered Percy, "I mean, I don't remember you ever using it at camp…"

"I used them to help some of the campers carry their things at the end of the year while you were having your date with Luke."

"As fun as it is to make Jackson suffer, we have giant metal bulls to stop."

"Right!" Naruto said, hands on each shoulder. "Do you guys want them fixable or in pieces?"

Clarisse snorted, "do you really think you can do that much better by yourself than we—"

"You focused on the head and body. I'll focus on the front legs, this way it won't be able to charge. Then the main danger will be the fire breath. Now, how do you want those legs?"

Clarisse's face went red in anger, over Naruto showing her up or at herself for not thinking about it no one could tell.

"I think Hephaestus' cabin could fix them either way, so the faster one."

With a nod, smoke burst from Naruto's shoulders, revealing a pair of blades not unlike the one Naruto gave him, made of fish scales, but this pair was smaller and the blade seemed to be sharpened fins, one of them in the shape of a normal sword and the other a semicircle with the pummel in the lower half of the flat side.

Noticing the looks, Naruto explained. "They are water elemental blades, drawing moisture from the air to coat themselves on it. I thought they'd be good to fight fire bulls."

"Can my sword do that too?" Percy asked, eyes wide. "I mean, the one you gave me?"

"No, that one has a natural sleep drug to make monsters weaker. The lance can though."

He made the handsign and summoned a clone, this one armed like him, and they went a bit farther than the others were, while the unnarmed one kept its attention on himself.

"No one told _me_ he could do that." Clarisse grumbled. "Have to convince him to ally with my cabin next Capture the Flag."

The unnarmed Naruto finally got the bull to charge at him, right between the two armed Narutos. They sliced at its legs as he went between them, making the bronze beast fall to the ground and slide for a bit, confused.

Unfortunatelly there were _two_ bulls, and the other Naruto was not as efficient at distracting it. Seeing that it was advancing on Percy and Clarisse, he started running on the path, hoping to be able to intercept it.

Clarisse grabbed her spear, planning on repeating Naruto's feat. Percy tried pulling her away but she was resolute.

Then it opened its maw, and everyone's eyes widened. Even if they tried evading now, the flames would reach them!

But, surprising everyone, Tyson, Percy's friend, jumped between them, taking the flames and blocking the two.

"Bad cow!" Tyson yelled, punching the charging bull in the head and downing it in one move.

"Tyson? How…" Percy couldn't help asking, surprised at his friend's survival.

"What is he doing in here?" Clarisse asked, pointing her spear at him, surprising Percy.

"I told Chase to let him in," answered warhammer kid, allowing Percy to recognize him.

He really didn't know what to think of Elliot after finding out who he really was.

"You've been training," Naruto told Elliot, looking at his arms. Gone were the scrawny ones of the previous summer, now one could really believe he was a teenager Ares.

"Lost my natural ability with my powers. Got to get it back the hard way. Found out I'm pretty good with a hammer.  
And you, been doing anything _but_ training and hunting monsters?"

"Been at the hospital for a bit. Monster bite, had no ambrosia to help heal with me."

Elliot snorted. Then turned his eyes to Percy, full of annoyance.

"You've been letting yourself rust. That is bad for my name."

"I can't just carry a sword around to train out there," Percy replied defensively. "I've been focusing on my powers instead."

"Make a fake one with foam and add some weight inside. This way you can keep your arms properly trained and can't hurt anyone. Anyone asks say it is therapeutic."

Everyone but Clarisse looked at him wide-eyed.

"What? Training properly is an important part of war preparation. I _got_ to know how to do it.

Anyways, fact is we were overpowered. I am not good under these conditions, I'm usually the one overpowering the other side. Found an asset that would turn the power table around, used it," he finished, pointing at Tyson. Naruto frowned a bit at someone being called an asset, but he knew that it was how it was in the military.

Percy just looked at Tyson, surprised. "You didn't die."

Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"We had no choice but letting Tyson cross the boundary line to save you two," explained Annabeth. "Even Naruto couldn't have saved you in time."

Naruto nodded, then looked at Tyson. He moved his hand in front of his face as if clearing a mirror, and his face filled with comprehension.

Percy had no such epiphany. "Let him cross the boundary line?"

"Percy, have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean… in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Percy did so, with some trouble. He saw no big deal, until he got to his eyes. Or rather, his eye. "Tyson… You're a…"

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?" Percy asked.

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said as if talking about something dirty. "They're… mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods… Well, one god in particular, usually… and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets."

"Sounds familiar," Naruto said in a neutral tone, and Annabeth winced, feeling like she had just offended him somehow.

She'd ask him about it later.

"I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

"But the fire. How—"

"He's a Cyclops," Elliot said as if that answered everything.

"They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire," Annabeth explained.

"We better carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

"Leave that to me," Naruto said, making some more clones, each one taking a wounded.

"Tantalus?" Percy asked, confused.

"The new activities director," Elliot said. "He doesn't know who I am, so you three better keep it this way."

The three nodded, even without burning eyes Elliot had a good glare.

"What happened to Chiron?" asked Percy as they followed the Narutos. "And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."

"They got fired," Clarisse said. "You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."

"But Chiron… He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"

"That happened," Clarisse answered angrily, pointing at Thalia's tree.

The once strong and healthy tree, source of the barrier that protected the camp and house of the spirit of Thalia… was dying. Its leaves were yellow and falling, and a puncture mark like a bullet hole oozed green sap.

"Someone poisoned it," Elliot answered the unasked question. "Someone who could enter the camp. That limits the number of suspects.  
Father claimed it was Chiron and Argus' fault, and kicked them out until the culprit was found. Don't think I need to tell you who is my main suspect."

Percy and Naruto nodded, but Annabeth shook her head. "Thalia was Luke's best friend! He would never hurt her!"

Percy got silent for a while. "Unless he doesn't see it as hurting her, but as saving her."

"Don't be stupid, seaweed-brain!"

"I'm serious. While we were fighting last year… he claimed that if Thalia is still alive and thinking in there, all those years must feel like a torture worse than death. If he really thinks so, killing her would be a mercy for him."

Annabeth could say nothing to that.

The camp was suffering, Naruto could tell. Oh, it seemed fine. Save for the signs of battle at the entrance, it was about as intact as you could call a summer camp filled with teenagers.

But the sense of safety was gone. It felt like Konoha after the invasion. But with the tree, their main protection, dying, the feeling was going worse every day instead of healing – and for good reason.

Percy had the distraction of talking and explaining things to Tyson, but Naruto and Annabeth suffered the feeling in full glory.

For Annabeth, that was more and more demoralizing.

For Naruto, he used that time to make plans.

First order of business, a joint group of people from the Apollo, Demeter and Dyonisus cabins going to examine the tree. The god of healing and two gods of plants. The fact it was still alive meant that it could probably be healed, right? But they probably did it already…

Second order of business… try to inject some antidote in it. It could heal quickly from a Nescylla, would it be that much trouble? If it failed all he lost was an antidote, if it worked…

They entered the house, and there was a weird background music… or is the name ambience? Didn't matter much to Naruto what to call it, just that it wasn't as quiet inside there.

"Pony!" said Tyson as they found Chiron, who was packing.

"I beg your pardon?" Chiron asked, looking offended.

"No, Tyson," Naruto corrected. "Ponies are smaller. He is a horse."

"Ooh… I get it."

"That is not the problem here, mister Uzumaki," Chiron tried to correct, ignoring Elliot's chuckle.

Annabeth quickly hugged him, stopping his complaint.

"Clarisse and Elliot told us what happened. It's not fair!"

"Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."

"Besides himself, you mean," Percy growled.

"And how? Just being here without wine are already him being punished, remember?" Naruto asked, making Percy sigh at his point.

"The point is, I failed to see the darkness that was corrupting Luke Castellan. This _is_ at least partially my fault."

"Horsie?" Tyson asked slowly, raising his hand as if wanting to pat Chiron's flank.

"It's better than pony," Chiron admitted to himself. "But I'm a centaur, young cyclops."

"Did you already try a bunch of Apollo and Demeter kids to try and heal the tree?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. But the poison used is too powerful, something from the Underworld even I have never seen before. Must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

"Then we know who's responsible!" Percy said. "Kro—"

"Do not invoke the titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now."

"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea."

"Not like we didn't know it before, brat," said Elliot, ignoring how his form was around Percy's age. "But we have no proof of who did it, and even so it does not save the horse and many-eyes from being suspected of being involved."

"And anyways I am not being punished so much by suspicions, but because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless..."

"Unless what?" Annabeth asked.

"No. A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Was Chiron giving up? Maybe Artemis could help find whatever it is.

 _I do not think hunt and search are that much related…_

'It wouldn't hurt to ask. The campers are in danger the way things are.'

 _But she is not a fan of the camp. Would she even help?  
Remember the things we read about her past?_

Naruto sighed. One of the things he focused on his studies of greek legends last year were the stories about his godmother… most of them weren't that flattering about her temper and ability to hold grudges.

"What is it? We'll go find it!" Percy asked. At least he had his heart in the right place.

Chiron closed his saddlebag and turned off the music.

"Percy, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, stay here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."

"Why? I want to do something! I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be—"

"Overrun by monsters. Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap by the titan lord."

Chiron then turned to Annabeth, brushing a tear from her cheek. "Stay with Percy, child. Keep him safe. The prophecy – remember it!"

"I-I will."

"Um… Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"

The only reaction was Naruto raising his eyebrow. He didn't remember that.

 _Figures. It can't be because they just want him to be safe. Got to have a reason._

"Right. Just checking."

"Chiron… You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes," Annabeth said. "If they dismiss you from camp—"

"Swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger," he insisted. "Swear upon the River Styx."

 _Wait, what?_

"I-I swear it upon—"

"Now wait just a minute!" Naruto objected, unknown to him his eyes turning red. "You are forcing her—"

"I am forcing her nothing!" Chiron objected back, insulted.

"Emotionally blackmailing, whatever. To make the highest level oath of your culture, to protect someone she already consider a friend, not to keep him safe or because you are friends or care for him, but because of a stupis prophecy?"

"It is a very important prophecy," Chiron tried defending himself lamely.

"It is a prophecy. If you believe in them, they _will_ happen, no matter what you do, and every story of someone trying to either make one work or doing their best for them not to ended up making it happen in the worst way. If you do _not_ believe in them they happening or not makes no difference. Either way, there is absolutely _no reason_ you should be forcing Annabeth to do anything because of it.

Or are you saying the only reason you only care about Percy is because of this prophecy?"

"Gods above, no!" a pale Chiron tried defending himself.

"Then start acting like it! Treat Percy like a person, not an asset! Treat Annabeth with the very same care, because she is just as important as a person and student as he is!"

Chiron sighed tiredly.

"Once more you speak with wisdom, young Naruto. I apologize Percy, Annabeth."

 _See? When we speak our mind we speak with wisdom._

'Sometimes,' Naruto agreed, his eyes returning to his usual blue.

"Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved… one way or another."

Annabeth tried her best not to cry, Chiron patting her shoulder.

"There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D and the new activities director. We must hope… well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear."

"You are filling us with confidence for them," Naruto snarked, just getting a shrug from Chiron as an answer.

"Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway? Where does he get off taking your job?" Percy asked.

A conch horn blew, signaling it was dinnertime.

"Go. You will meet him at the pavilion," said Chiron. "I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the titan lord has forgotten you!"

With that said he left with his baggage, Tyson saying "Horsie! Don't go!" after him.

IIIII

It was a weird scene for Percy, but both Tyson and Naruto seemed to be enjoying it. Percy could only shake his head, even with all his time training he doubted Elliot could carry Tyson on his back so easily.

"Who invited that?" someone said. "Why is Naruto wasting his time with it?" asked someone else.

Naruto himself just kept walking around in an exaggerated manner to try to make Tyson have more fun, hiding his annoyance behind a fake smile and closed eyes.

 _They are all alike. Judging without knowing._

"Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson and Nancy Usagi. My millennium is complete."

Percy gritted his thief, while Naruto's smile widened. "Percy Jackson and Naruto Uzumaki… sir," Percy forced herself to say.

"Yes. Well, as you young people say these days: Whatever," se said, sipping his diet coke.

Mr. D looked no different in Naruto's eyes. He personally thought his personality, a mix of annoyed and dismissive of _everyone_ but not outright malicious, pretty refreshing.

At his side was a man he seemed to have seen before, but couldn't recognize. Wearing an orange jumpsuit that did not fit him, both in size and appearence (unlike Naruto who in his opinion looked awesome in his jacket and pants combo), really thin and pale, with blue shadows under his eyes and gray hear that seemed to be cut poorly as a prank.

He looked at them with hate and malice. But again, he seemed to look at everyone like that.

"These two, you need to watch, for different reasons," Mr. D said. "This one is Poseidon's child."

"Ah! That one," the man said.

"The blond is Artemis'."

The man nodded dismissively, paying more attention to Percy. Mr. D, however, looked appraisingly at Naruto, as if noticing something different.

"I am Tantalus," the new man said with a cold smile. "On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise." Mr. D's face showed Naruto that he wouldn't be there anymore if he had any choice. "And you, Perseus Jackson, I do expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."

"Trouble?" Percy asked, confused and angry.

With a snap of Mr. D's fingers, a newspaper appeared on the table about a fire Percy was being accused of.

"Yes, trouble," Tantalus said. "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand."

Percy said nothing, and a satyr put a plate of food, barbecue, in front of the man. Licking his lips, he asked his goblet for a root beer, the producer and year.

He stretched his hand almost as if afraid.

"Go on, then, old fellow," Dionysus said, a sparkle in his eyes Naruto recognized as a prank but with no idea as to what it could be. That would be fun. "Perhaps now it will work."

Tantalus went for the glass, but it slid away from his hand. He tried picking a few fallen drops on the table, but they rolled away from his touch. With an angry growl he went to stak a piece of the barbecue, causing the whole plate to run the table and fly off the end, right into the brazier.

"Blast!" he muttered.

"Ah, well. Perhaps a few more days," Mr. D said, the sympathy in his voice clearly false. "Believe me old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."

"Eventually," he muttered, staring in envy at Mr. D's Diet Coke. "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?"

"You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment," Percy said in recognition. "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."

"A real scholar, aren't you, boy?" Tantalus replied with a sneer.

"You must've done something really horrible when you were alive," Percy said.

Naruto snorted. "No Percy, he got a personalized punishment for petting too many puppies."

"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson," Tantalus said, eyes narrowed. "I don't want any problems at my camp."

"Your camp has problems already… sir."

"It's pretty clear he meant more problems, Percy," Naruto countered. "Seriously, if you're gonna banter, put some effort in it."

"Go sit down, Johnson," Mr. D sighed. "I believe the table over there is yours – the one no one ever wants to sit."

"Come on, Tyson," Percy said, his face red in anger.

"Oh, no. The monster stays here," Tantalus stopped them. "We must decide what to do with it."

Naruto's eyes quickly went to Tantalus' face, eyes snapping open, red. As quickly as it happened his eyes went closed again, but a sneer stayed on his face.

Mr. D's eyebrow rose slightly, but no one else noticed.

"Him. His name is Tyson," corrected Percy.

Tantalus raised an eyebrow.

"Tyson helped save the camp."

"Yes, and what a pity that would've been." Tantalus said with a sigh.

Mr. D snickered.

"Yes," Naruto agreed, "without it we would have no excuse to have your company after all. You'd have to be send back home. What a… _tragedy_ that would be."

"Leave us," Tantalus ordered, his good mood gone, "while we decide this creature's fate."

Naruto put Tyson down, and the scared cyclops looked at Percy.

"Uzumaki, learn to control yourself," said Mr. D in a low tone so no one else heard them. "You are going a bit deep in my domain for my comfort."

Naruto's eyes widened, but he nodded.

"That blond brat… I'll show him…"

Mr. D resisted the urge to smirk. Tantalus ignored his warnings. That is going to be fun…

When it was his turn to make the offering, he made quite a few. One for Temie, one for Hades and one for Apollo for saving his life, one for Mr. D hoping he'd not go crazy, and one for Tsukiyomi and one for Susanoo, even though they weren't exactly from the greek pantheon.

Back in his seat, Tantalus had one of the satyrs blow a horn so he could make the announcements.

"Yes, well. Another fine meal! Or so I am told." He tried to grab some more food sneakily, but as soon as he got about six inches from the plate it shot away down the table.

'Interesting. The food was much closer the last time. Is it because he was trying to get it, or to eat it? Would it be thrown away if he didn't know it was going to touch him? Can he touch food if he doesn't know it is food? If so, would the punshment stop him putting it in his mouth? Experiments, filled with pepper and salt for safety in case he is able to eat them, are needed…'

"And here on my first day of authority I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

Mr. D started a half-hearted clap, followed by the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, uncomfortable, and every time he tried to walk away Tantalus pulled him back.

"And now some changes!" Tantalus said with a fake smile. "We are reinstituting the chariot races! Now I know that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," someone said from the Apollo table.

"Yes, yes! But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

People got excited with that. Naruto could understand it, they were like the worst of D-rank missions.

"But, sir!" Clarisse interrupted nervously, standing up "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots—"

"Ah, the hero of the day. Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!" Tantalus said.

Naruto and Clarisse blinked, then the girl blushed. "Um, I didn't—"

"And modest, too. Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy our-selves, yes?"

"But the tree—"

"And now," Tantalus said, pushing her protests aside, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here." Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson, making the campers talk among themselves.

No one seemed to notice Naruto's eyes turning a bit red.

"Now, of course, cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"

The counsellors at Hermes table seemed to have their attention elsewhere.

"Come now. The monster may be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"

An angry slap on the table finally drew everyone's attention to Naruto. He had closed eyes and a smile, but it for some reason sent shivers down the spine of the other campers.

"Well, if no one wants to _be a friend_ and share their house with him," he said in a friendly tone, but Percy just knew he was being chastised, "I see no problem with him being my roommate."

"Well—" Tantalus started, but then everyone gasped, and Tantalus moved away from Tyson. Everyone stared at the symbol over Tyson's head, while Tyson himself tried to swat at it.

A glowing green trident.

Being claimed was a respectful thing. Many campers waited their whole life for being claimed. When someone was claimed, Chiron used to proclaim that god's titles and everyone would kneel.

Tantalus laughed. And the campers followed him.

Naruto knew that it was because they were young, or because they respected authority.

 _That doesn't make it any less of a bad thing._

"Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

IIIII

Percy was walking back to his cabin, head down, when suddenly he was somewhere else, a second Percy in his place acting tired so Tyson wouldn't notice anything wrong.

As soon as the real one figured out he was near the climbing walls, his back was introduced the pain more painfully than usual.

"Naruto!" Percy exclaims, recognizing the blond holding him to the rock, despite his new red eyes. "What are you doing?"

"What am _I_ doing?" Naruto asked in a silky tone. "I wasn't the one that went from trying to protect a friend to treating him like he had a contagious disease just because I found out he had one less eye than me!"

Percy felt like he had been punched. "It's just that—"

"No, it is not _just_ anything. It is _not_ just that Tyson is treated like this despite doing nothing wrong. It is _not_ just that you, his only friend here, seems to have turned your back on him. It is _not_ just that something that was supposed to be a great thing was turned into a joke just because it is about Tyson.

I expected better from you, Jackson. You were once isolated and had people turn their back at you here in the camp because of your father. Then you turn around and do it to your friend.

I will talk with Annabeth tomorrow too, but I consider you more important. You betrayal deeper."

Naruto let go of him and left, giving him no chance to try to justify himself.

As he arrived to his own cabin, meeting his copy that just scowled at him before disappearing into smoke, he had to admit… there was no way for him to do so, was there?

IIIII

 **I feel bad stealing Clarisse's first moment of glory, even if it wasn't overtly so originally, I'll try to compensate her later.**

 **For those that can't remember, in the book Annabeth tried to distract one bull but failed, Percy saved Clarisse, twisted his ankle and was saved by Tyson, and the other bull was defeated by Clarisse offscreen with Naruto's strategy used here.**

 **I just thought, "since he has experience hunting monsters he'd think of it right away".**


	17. Tricking Into the Quest

Percy sighed. The last few days were a torture.

Not because of Tyson. He had no one, like Naruto said, only Percy. And he found out he was his brother. It was a bit annoying, how he kept laughing to himself like he won the lottery, but it was understandable.

It wasn't because of the other campers, who made jokes about him being the brother of a monster. They never made them when both Tyson and Naruto were around, because Naruto would protect Tyson. If he saw, heard, or was even close to when they joked about Tyson… Those blue eyes should _not_ be able to give someone such a cold stare.

But of course, Naruto protected _Tyson_.

And that was the problem.

Naruto was one of the few people Percy had genuine respect for. He was proud he once considered him a friend.

Now it was as if Naruto ignored his very presence.

There was no anger. No disgust. It was as if Percy did not even exist unless someone mentioned him. Unless Tyson was around, and even then Naruto was neutral with him, as if he was a stranger.

That did hammer the point home, though. Percy was turning his back on Tyson, even if the other boy didn't notice. And Naruto had made clear his thoughts about abandoning friends after the fight with Echidna and the Chimera.

He saw the error in his ways. He would pay Tyson back for that mistake, even if the other boy didn't know it.

He learned his lesson.

Now, how to prove to Naruto he did?

IIIII

Annabeth did not know why Naruto was treating Percy so coldly, but the other boy did and seemed to accept he was at fault, that was what mattered.

She did not know why he was treating _her_ coldly too, though. So she went to ask him.

His answer… was a question.

"Why are _you_ treating Tyson so coldly? Why did you let him in if this is how you will treat him now? I can ignore everyone else but you and Percy."

"You seem to be doing a good enough act of ignoring Percy though," she countered.

Naruto just shrugged.

"Why are you acting like this?" she demanded again. "Answer me!"

"I already told you. You're just thinking too much in yourself to get it," he answered, and started to walk away.

Annabeth's eyes widened.

"Is this because of how I treated Tyson? But-but he is a cyclops! He is—"

Naruto stopped walking, making Annabeth stop talking.

"Him being one-eyed didn't matter when the bulls were attacking, though. Oh, but that's because it was _convenient_ to accept him, now that you don't have a use for him he is worse than dirt.

Did you even think about how he feels? Can you imagine how it is to have everyone either ignore you or joke about you, to feel glares and whispers saying that it would have been better if you had never been there, never been born?

That you are only good enough to live when you are _useful_ and undesirable when you are not?"

Annabeth stared at him blankly. It-it was a _cyclops_ , for Athena's sake. And yet…

And yet his words held a sadness that she wouldn't wish on anyone.

"Sounds horrible," was all she could say. "I don't even want to imagine."

"It is. I don't need to."

Naruto kept walking, and Annabeth's eyes widened.

What could _Naruto_ had done to be treated like… like…

Like they were treating Tyson just because he was born a cyclops…

She walked back to her cabin, passing through Tyson talking with Beckendorf from Hephaestus' cabin. That bigger, true smile on his face, just for being treated well…

She felt sick. Sick at the other campers, sick at herself. So he was a cyclops, he was not _that_ cyclops!  
And the others, they did not even have that as an excuse!

Looking at things from a neutral point of view, what they are doing to Tyson is inexcusable. No wonder monsters raised on the wild go bad if this is how they are treated.

And… Naruto was treated the same…

No wonder he was giving her the cold shoulder.

IIIII

Percy and Annabeth were working on their chariot. They decided to team up both to try and get their heads off their problems and because… the chariot was created by their parents working together, that was kind of unfair to the others!

Tyson was helping, with his lessons on crafting from Hephaestus' cabin he was slowly learning to make things that made the chariot even better.

"Hey Jackson!" said someone from Aphrodite's cabin as they worked, "do you need to borrow some eyeliner for your eyes… Oops, I mean eye!"

Usually that would annoy Percy, but… he wasn't talking to him but Percy did learn something from Naruto this year…

"I'm sorry, I never use eyeliner. Unlike you, I am naturally this handsome."

The Aphrodite dude gaped, before leaving fuming.

"Eh, I'll give a seven. I'll add a point because it was just his weakness though," said Naruto, who no one noticed was nearby until then.

Percy was glad Naruto was saying _anything_ to them, but maybe that was more because Tyson was with them. But he couldn't let that one go. "And what would _you_ have said then?"

"On the spot? I'd accuse them of using it poorly because they weren't counting my eyes properly, but that was ok because both me and Tyson are so much better looking than him it'd be an understandable mistake. It's not that much better, but…" he shrugged. "I'm no master."

"So, the three of you are working together this time?"

"Horsies don't like me much," Tyson said, saddened.

"I tried to convince them, but… even the pegasus don't want to deal with him."

"I thought only the main one was Pegasus?" Naruto asked, tilting his head.

"Actually they are called pterippi, but Pegasus is so famous everyone calls them that," Annabeth explained.

"Right, I'm not calling them that either, it's a mouthful."

"Chicken-horses?" said Tyson.

"Nah, chicken can't fly. Try bird-horses."

"Birdie-horsies. Birrd-horsies."

"…yeah, I agree. Doesn't roll so well off the tongue…"

Annabeth rubbed her temples. Percy laughed.

He missed hanging around Naruto.

He then noticed the package the blond was carrying. "Hey Naruto, what's that?"

"Uh? Oh, this? Research material. That dude from Hermes convinced me to use it instead of my first choice."

Naruto opened the package… and it was a paintball sniper rifle.

"…Ok, I'll bite. What kind of research would use a paintball gun?"

"Oh, wait a second, I got a list…" he pulled a piece of paper and began reading. "Would food thrown fast enough be deflected by Tantalus' punishment if he didn't know it is food? If no, would he be able to touch to clean it? If no, can he use water to wash it? If no, would he be able to scratch his nose if there was jam on his forehead? Would said jam avoid his mouth if it started dripping (note, add salt and pepper to jam when doing experiment)? Some people eat some kinds of ants, could he get rid of ants trying to eat the food on him?  
That's all I got for now. More questions depend on the answers to the known ones. Of course, most of these questions are already a chain so…"

"I wish you hadn't asked," Annabeth told Percy.

"Yeah, it takes away all the surprise…"

Naruto shrugged. "I'll do my best to still keep things interesting."

That said he left, visible pensive as he packed the paintball gun again.

IIIII

"You know, I should stop you," said Silena Beauregard, the self-appointed pegasus-riding instructor.

Naruto shrugged. "But you are not."

Silena sighed.

"Are you sure you can hit him from here?"

"Pretty sure, if his punishment will let me. If it does, the possibilities I can use this baby for…"

Silena sighed. It was not like she was against playing a few pranks on Tantalus, he had proven himself to be a terrible person, but she was not sure if he knew what he was doing. He was always smiling, but so serious…

They waited in the air until Tantalus exited the Big House, and Naruto wasted no time taking the shot.

Tantalus got hit in the middle of the forehead, falling backwards, his face filled with surprise.

"For the gods, you killed him!" Silane said, eyes wide.

Naruto rolled his eyes and went down with the winged horse, the girl following him.

Tantalus put his hand on his forehead in pain and confusion… or rather, tried to. It was as if something wouldn't let him, his hand just sliding across his face.

As they watched hidden, Naruto grinned.

IIIII

Percy fought for his life. At least this time it was a fairer fight, without a gash in his leg and his opponent didn't have years or even millennias of training over him, just near some months due to his start right without breaks when Percy took one.

On the other hand, Zeus could have taken the instinctual ability to use every weapon to their full potential and any supernatural powers, but Elliot still held all the knowledge. Those were _very_ well-used months. Without the arrogance and overconfidence, and with opponents unable to use powers or tricks, he was among the best.

Percy was one of the best swordsmen at camp now that he recovered his groove. Elliot was another other one.

The winner of that fight would battle a Naruto clone. The ninja was trying to learn to use sword-and-shield, and the best way to do this was by battling someone who already knew how to.

Naruto still wasn't acting like before with Percy and Annabeth, but it seemed that after Tantalus started walking around with raspberry jam on his forehead his mood rose a level. Percy was treated coldly instead of ignored, and Annabeth was treated like a normal camper.

Two other clones were at the archery range doing an outright western duel with bows.

The original Naruto was trying his best to make the hardest mode of the climbing wall even harder. He was currently only using one hand, alternating between them.

The fact he could clone himself was an open secret now, known to anyone but Tantalus, like Elliot's identity. But no one knew about the memory transfer, so as far as the people watching knew they were in the presence of the real one.

At night, Naruto and Elliot were the most common members of the border patrol, taking Tantalus' insistence of forgetting about it as a challenge. Elliot had a deep anger now of anyone trying to control him, and Naruto… just wasn't one to respect undeserved authority.

IIIII

Their chariot was awesome, Percy thought. White with sea-green details, one trident on one side and an owl on the other. Annabeth's suggestions plus Tyson's abilities made it seem like it would be one of the softest rides among the competitions – their main competitors, Hephaestus' with their mechanical horses and Ares' with their skeletal ones, seemed to have focused more on speed and combat power than comfort, while Annabeth said comfort would be an important thing for the rider to be more attentive to the field.

And then there was Naruto.

His chariot was the more basic, orange with silver details, since he refused allying with another cabin. He was also alone, since Tantalus didn't know about the clones.

The horses were a pair of orange ones that had been seen training with Naruto for some days, after the chariot was ready. No one but Percy and Annabeth had any idea where he got them.

One thing everything was sure of though: get rid of the orange chariot first.

Percy had a chill on his spine when he noticed the many birds on the trees. The way Naruto looked at them told him he agreed. They ere black and grey, and made an annoying metallic sound.

Tantalus seemed to have been cleaned, in his place among the stone steps for spectators. The way his forehead was read, it had been scrubbed with a dry towel or something like that.

"Right. You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter tops, too bad if your team doesn't have enough people. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody! Any killing will result in harsh punishment: no s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the punishment, but pulled out and activated his glaive. It was a new one, seemed like a purple oar with a green jewel on one tip. It crackled with red and black energy now and then.

He seemed more focused on the weapon than on the horses, confusing most of the teams and spectators.

There were only six chariots: Naruto's, Percy and Annabeths' joint chariot, Clarisse and Elliot's for Ares' cabin, the Stoll brothers' for Hermes', Beckendorf with a brother for Hephaestus' and one for Apollo's whose team was hard to remember but for the fact the fighter was using a bow.

Before the race began, Percy tried to bring Annabeth to near Naruto. Thankfully, the slightly older blond didn't do anything to avoid them.

"Naruto, I have to tell you and Annabeth of a dream I had about Grover."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Those dreams you had last year that were more like visions?"

Percy nodded… then shook his head.

"He said he created an empathy link with me, so it is more like a dream message."

Naruto nodded.

"He said he is stuck in a cave at an island on the sea, he said he just went to Florida and turned left, so he has no real idea where he is. He is tricking an adult cyclops into thinking he is a lady cyclops, but only has some days to escape."

Naruto nodded, and motioned for him to continue.

"He said the cyclops, Polyphemus, is a shepperd, and that he got a trap that has so much natural magic the satyrs looking for Pan end up going for him instead.

Annabeth took a deep breath.

"If it was not a dream," she said, "then that means Grover stumbled in the one think that could save the camp."

"It is not," Percy said decisively.

"Percy, an empathy link is so hard to do. I mean, it's more likely you really were dreaming."

"Annabeth, I don't think Percy had any idea of anything he said. So it's really either an empathy link or a vision. Either way…"

"Charioteers! To your mark!" Tantalus called.

"We'll talk later, after we win," Annabeth said, pulling Percy back to their chariot.

"Good luck, you'll need it," was Naruto's reply.

He looked up to the trees. The pigeons were increasing in number, and they gave him the instinctive chills of a monster staring at him.

As the chariots lined up, the metallic sounds got so high Tantalus had to yell to be heard.

"Charioteers! Attend your mark!"

He waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots departed. The crowd cheered. Naruto threw something forward and closed his eyes. A flash of light. Everyone yelled, and there was a loud crack as the Hermes and Apollo chariots took each other out of the running.

Naruto was definitely in first place, with Ares in second and Hephaestus in third. While the other two's horsed were better as horses, the riders were still affected by the flash and that slowed them down.

Percy approached the Hephaestus chariot. Beckendorf pressed a button on it, and a panel slid open on the side.

"Sorry guys!" he yelled, as three sets of ball and chains were shot to their wheels. Annabeth quickly whacked the first and third aside with their pole but the second hit, tangling into their wheel and slowing them down.

But before Beckendorf could press the advantage Elliot deflected something Naruto threw at his chariot at his face, and the older boy lost control of his chariot, going green and apparently resisting the urge to puke.

Percy then noticed the weird birds had taken flight, spiraling around like a tornado around the racetrack.

Now that they were out of the race, he was free to feel worried…

Aaand the birds started divebombing the crowd. And the racers.

Elliot quickly threw a net over their chariot, protecting them from the birds as much as he could. The skeletal horses ignored the birds pecking them and their eye sockets.

Naruto looked around as soon as the attack on him began, slapping a bird away by instinct, noticed the attack on the crowd and left his chariot. He crossed the field as fast as the horses on the way to them, spinning his glaive over his head.

He grit his teeth at noticing the children panicking, being scratched by sharp claws and beaks while Tantalus chased food and yelled that things were 'under control'. He quickly created a rasengan and raised it over his head, not even noticing his lack of a clone to help make it, and began shredding through the bird cloud.

"Stymphalian birds! They'll strip everyone to bones if we don't drive them away!" Annabeth yelled an explanation.

"And how do we do it?" Naruto yelled back, swinging the glaive awkwardly in one hand and the rasengan in the other. He was trying to draw their attention to him, but it wasn't working.

"Hercules used noise! Brass bells! He scared them away with the most horrible sound he could—"

Naruto wasted no time, releasing the glaive and and throwing another metal sphere at the middle of the spectators. "Cover your ears!"

A loud noise was released, downing the people but, more importantly, making the birds fly away from them in visible pain.

The archers among the crowd wasted no time, standing up and firing on the birds.

At was to that scene that the victorious Clarisse and Elliot looked back from the finishing line. They quickly urged their chariot back to where everyone was.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"Stympac birds," Naruto answerd.

"Stymphalian" Annabeth corrected.

"Yeah, that. She said they were scared by sounds, so I threw a sound grenade."

Clarisse just nodded and went to see if she could help anyone.

She was annoyed. This was the second time Uzumaki had stolen her glory. And the worst part was she couldn't say anything this time since she didn't even notice there was a battle until it was over.

She wanted to prove herself to her father. That was all she wanted. But now it was all Jackson this and Uzumaki that.

It was not fair!

"Bravo! We have our first winner!" Tantalus said, making everyone confused. After the birds began attacking, no one paid any attention to the race.

He walked to Clarisse, awarding golden laurels to the confused girl.

Then he turned and smiled at Naruto. "And now to punish the troublemaker who disrupted this race."

Everyone looked at that even more confused.

"Oh?" Naruto asked. "You shouldn't punish yourself, it was an honest mistake. Just strive so that this does not happen again."

He then patted Tantalus' head and turned to leave.

That did _not_ improve the man's disposition towards the blond, and he went to grab his shoulder before he could leave—

"Gaahck!"

—And fell facedown on the ground.

"Hey, are you alright?" Naruto asked, confusion and concern clear in his voice.

And at that moment the whole camp unanimously decided never to challenge Naruto in a game of poker. Ever.

Tantalus stood up, glaring at the blond.

"Do you deny that your poorly-chosen 'weapons' are the reason the birds became irritated?"

Naruto made a thinking pose.

"You know, I never thought of it like that I guess they could have been irritated by the flash grenade…" Naruto accepted, pensive. "Oh well, it's not like there was anything in the rules about it, in fact they said _any_ weapon was acceptable. I guess we should blame whoever wrote the rules for the oversight and hire someone more competent to do them next time."

" _I_ was the one who wrote the rules," Tantalus said between gritted teeth.

"And I am very proud of you for not trying to shift the blame," Naruto replied seriously with a nod. "As such, I expect a report about your failings to be on its way to Mr. D tomorrow at noon tops. You are dismissed."

Tantalus sputtered as Naruto turned and walked away.

IIIII

"If he's really found it, and if we could retrieve it…" Annabeth said, biting her lip.

"Tell us more, Annabeth. Not everyone here was raised on Greek Mythology," Naruto complained. "All I know is that the guy likes sheep and has a satyr bait."

"Sorry, sorry. You wouldn't know, you're right. It is probably a magical item called the Golden Fleece. You know, as a fleece of golden wool."

"Ah, from that Argonaut guy?" Naruto asked. He had an idea now of what he was dealing with from that time he read a bit the past year.

Annabeth nodded. "There were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa. They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."

"It was probably important to her," Percy said, and Naruto nodded.

"The point is," Annabeth continued, "when Cadmus got to Colchis he sacrificed the golden ram to the gods and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew better. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted the Fleece.

It can revitalize any land where it's placed. It cures sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution—"

"It could cure Thalia's tree," Percy did the math.

"And it would totally strengthen the borders of Camp Half-Blood. But it has been missing for centuries. Tons of heroes have searched for it with no luck."

"Until now," Naruto said.

"Grover found it," Percy agreed. "He went looking for Pan and he found the Fleece instead because they both radiate nature magic. It's perfect! We can rescue him and save the camp at the same time!"

"A little _too_ perfect," Annabeth said. "What if it's a trap?"

"It definitely is," Naruto agreed. "There are many ways whoever did that could have destroyed the tree outright instead of making it fade slowly. They are giving us time to find a solution… probably so they can use it themselves."

"What choice do we have?" Percy asked, getting angry.

"None," Naruto said. "Unless we abandon Grover and the campers. That's why it is a good trap, you can't find a way out but doing what they want."

Percy punched the air.

"We should bring Tyson with us. He doesn't have many friends around here," Naruto said.

"But it'd be dangerous there," Percy argued back.

"Tantalus did say outright he is just asking for an excuse to execute him though."

"Guys, wait." Annabeth tried to counter, "we'll have to fight a cyclops. Polyphemus, the worst of the cyclopes."

Naruto nodded, then looked at Percy. "Think Tyson will mind?"

"We should ask him."

Annabeth sighed. Seemed like she had no choice if Tyson accepted.

She tried to act neutral to him, but… the memories…

"There's only one place his island could be. The Sea of Monsters."

Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Don't think I read about this term."

"Probably not by name, but it is the same sea Odysseus sailed through, and Jason, and Aeneas, and all the others."

"You mean the Mediterranean?" Percy asked.

"No. Well, yes ... but no."

"Another straight answer. Thanks," Percy snarked.

"Must be somewhere else right now. Like Olympus and the Underworld. And that ruin I found in the desert."

"Yes," Annabeth nodded. "The Sea of Monsters is the sea all heroes sail through on their adventures. It used to be in the Mediterranean, but like everything else, it shifts locations as the West's center of power shifts."

"But a whole sea full of monsters—how could you hide something like that? Wouldn't the mortals notice weird things happening… like, ships getting eaten and stuff?" Percy asked, confused.

"Of course they notice. They don't understand, but they know something is strange about that part of the ocean. The Sea of Monsters is off the east coast of the U.S. now, just northeast of Florida. The mortals even have a name for it."

Percy's eyes widened in comprehension. "The Bermuda Triangle?"

"…Come again?" Naruto asked, confused.

"It is a common mortal legend that ships and planes disappear when going through a part of the ocean known as Bermuda Triangle," Annabeth explained. "In reality it is the Sea of Monsters."

Percy sighed.

"Okay ... so at least we know where to look."

"It's still a huge area, Percy," Annabeth interrupted. "Searching for one tiny island in monster-infested waters—"

"Hey, I'm the son of the sea god. This is my home turf. How hard can it be?"

Annabeth sighed. "We'll have to talk to Tantalus, get approval for a quest. He'll say no."

"Not if we tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everybody," Percy countered. "The whole camp will hear. They'll pressure him. He won't be able to refuse."

"Maybe," Annabeth agreed.

"Question," interrupted Naruto. "Isn't Mr. D above Tantalus? Why not talk to him instead?"

"Mr. D won't just let us go," Percy complained.

"Why? He is a god, isn't he? A quest given by him is just as good as one given by Tantalus.

"True, but… how are we going to convince him?"

"Leave it to me."

IIIII

The campfire was enchanted. The louder the people sang and the better the mood, the higher and more colorful it got.

Today people were not singing loud, and the mood was _really_ down.

And Percy and Annabeth were even worse, because Naruto told them that they needed to do their Plan A anyway.

They were confused bu the "anyway", but took it to mean Dionysus said no.

Mr. D was barely able to stay, but kept going because he wanted to watch "the fireworks", which was weird to Percy because there were no fireworks scheduled for the day.

"Well, that was lovely!" said Tantalus as he tried and failed to take a marshmallow, confusing anyone bothering to pay attention. It was much more entertaining to watch the suicidal marshmallow diving to the flames to escape his grasp.

"Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule", te tried continuing.

"Sir," Percy interrupted, making Tantalus' eye twitch.

"Our resident monster sibling has something to say?" he asked mockingly.

Annabeth stood beside Percy, and after some prompting from her so did Naruto, although a bit separate… which drew the other campers' attention.

"We have an idea to save the camp," Percy declared. No one spoke, but the campfire brightened.

"Indeed. Well, if it has anything to do with chariots—"

"Are you obsessed with them or something?" Naruto asked, real curiosity in his voice.

"…what?"

"Well, I can't blame you, it is a fun sport, and must be fun to watch too, but I am saddened to have to tell you not everything in life is about them. For example, there is also food!" he finished, raising and biting into a marshmallow of his own that did _not_ try to escape by self-immolation.

"The Golden Fleece," Percy said, his voice as frustrated as Tantalus seemed. "We know where it is."

As the flames burned orange, Percy told everyone about his dream, Annabeth reminded everyone what the Golden Fleece could do… and Naruto ate a marshmallow looking straight at Tantalus. It seemed like a threatening look, as intense as the stare was.

"The Fleece can save the camp. I'm certain of it," Annabeth finished.

"Nonsense. We don't need saving," Tantalus argued. This time, _everyone_ stared blankly at him. "Besides, the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Yes, I would," Percy shot back.

"You would?" Annabeth whispered.

"30, 31, 75, 12."

"Ooo-kay. Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers," Tantalus teased.

"Dude, even _I_ know these are coordinates," replied Naruto.

"…What?" Tantalus asked back. "Is this one of these new things invented _after I died_ or something?"

"The invention of a geographic coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who composed his now-lost Geography at the Library of Alexandria in the third century BC," Annabeth recited.

"That's a yes," Naruto explained.

"30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!" Annabeth made the math.

"Wait just a minute," Tantalus tried to say, but the campers were already chanting for a quest. His attempts to stop it only made the voices – and the flames – go higher.

"Fine!" he finally shouted, angrily. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"Yes!"

"Very well. I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying. I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle! And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious," he said, looking at the three with with clear anger in his eyes.

"The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races—"

"Give it a break with the chariots already!" Naruto yelled in frustration. "Is it a sexual attraction? Is that it?"

Tantalus quickly focused his ire on him. "And courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest ... Clarisse!"

The fire changed among different colors. The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering for her. The girl stood up, looking stunned. Then she swallowed, and accepted the quest with pride.

"Wait!" Percy shouted. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to me."

"Sit down!" yelled back one of the Ares campers. "You had your chance last summer!"

"Yeah, he just wants to be in the spotlight again!" said another.

Clarisse glared at Percy. "I accept the quest! I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares campers cheered even louder.

Annabeth tried protesting, but Naruto raised his hand to get some silence.

"I'd like to agree with Tantalus and Clarisse," said him. "The quest for the Golden Fleece is of ultmost importance, and should not be given to someone whose focus is something else – like Percy wants to use it to save Grover."

Everyone just looked at Naruto in confusion and, in Percy and Annabeth's case, in betrayal.

"No. If a quest is to be used for rescuing Grover Underwood, it must be a quest _to_ rescue Grover Underwood. But since the paths seem to coincide, both teams will be possibly going together for most of the journey."

Before anyone could recover enough to say something, Tantalus pounced back. "And do you really believe I would approve of a quest to rescue a satyr from his own stupidity?"

"Of course not," Naruto agreed smiling, something which confused everyone. "Which is why I went to your superior.

Mr. D said that as long as we got someone else to go for the Golden Fleece under your word, he'd use his to allow us to rescue Grover."

 _Everyone_ looked at Mr. D at that, who just shrugged and drank his diet coke.

Naruto lifted three fingers.

Then two.

One.

Tantalus snapped, advancing on the blond… before something hitting his arm and sending him into the campfire with a yelp.

Naruto quickly caught the escaping marshmallow, a little burned but still edible.

The laugher from everyone, even a smirk from Mr. D, rose the flames even hotter, making his situation even worse.

Tantalus soon stood up again, patting the flames off as much as he could.

"Silence, you brats!" he said in a serious tone. "Sit down! And I will tell you a ghost story."

"Aaand that's my cue to leave."

"I said sit down, Uzumaki! Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the Gods!" he put his hand on his chest, not even hiding he was talking about himself.

"This king, was even allowed to feast on Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe—just one little doggie bag, mind you—the gods punished him. They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him! And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children—just—like— you." He pointed a crooked finger at several people in the audience, finishing at Naruto.

"Well, it was a deserved punishment," Naruto said. "Not only he betrayed their trust, he did not even thing of asking for the recipe. If he was so beloved, they wouldn't have refused without a good reason.

Actually, maybe he _was_ that beloved. From what I read of punishments for insulting the gods for even minor things, that was pretty mild."

"Do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?" Tantalus asked softly, ignoring Naruto.

"Of course, blame the children for their father being an ungrateful idiot! Not like they weren't the only ones angry at him."

"Do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?"

"Considering the mentality of the king until now, something idiotic that offended the gods."

"Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," Tantalus croaked, staring angrily at Naruto, who was killing the mood he was trying to go for. "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to him or questioned his authority. And do you know what? Rumor has it that the king's spirit now dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children."

"Which, considering how stupid he is from your story, is not that big of a deal," Naruto countered. "I mean, killing all his children and giving the meat for people who had the power to punish him terribly and were already angry with him?"

Tantalus opened his mouth angrily to retort, but stopped at Naruto's next words.

"Want to know what _I_ 'd do?" the blond asked, eyes closed.

He couldn't resist nodding.

"The gods's stew would be normal meat. I would try to get on their good graces, and giving them my child to eat would just set them against me, either for the killing of my child or for feeding it to them.

But… well, you said _children_ , so I'm assuming he had two or more. So I'd go from the younger to the second older. Every week, I'd arrange for one of them to disappear without a trail. And every week the next night we'd have a banquet where we would eat stew. Just the family. That would go until only the older one remained with me… then I'd take him to the secret prison where the other children were being kept. There everyone but the younger would be kept porrly fed but alive and well. Then I'd give a warning. Either they behave, or it would not be only _one_ of them that would be stew."

Naruto opened his eyes. Everyone had moved away from him but Mr. D, even Tantalus.

" _That's_ how you tell a ghost story."

IIIII

"You are angry at me, aren't you?"

"Of course not," Clarisse answered Naruto sarcastically on her way to the Oracle. "You just stole my glory. Is getting attention that important to you you couldn't even let me try to make my father proud?"

Naruto sighed. "I'm sorry. If it helps, I truly meant what I said there – my focus is on Grover first. When we come back with the fleece, the glory is all yours."

"You say that now," she replied angrily. "But we both know you like the attention."

Naruto sighed, but didn't deny it.

"When I was younger… actually not so much younger, two years tops, I had no one to care for me. Either they had too much to do or they outright ignored me.  
I wanted attention. I wanted someone to care that I existed. So I started doing pranks. Negative attention is still attention.

I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. I promise I'll make up to you someday."

Clarisse said nothing, just went to the Oracle.

Naruto went to his tent, where Percy, Annabeth and Tyson were waiting.

"Come in," he called, and they followed him.

Inside were six cats. Ace, Calico and other four of different colors of fur… some not natural. Ace was standing straight, Calico was lying on a cot, and the others were… exercising?

"I got you guys scrolls that work like mine," Naruto said, giving one to each. "Well, actually it was one for Percy, one for Annabeth and one for Grover, but Tyson will have to use it for now."

He opened one of his own. It was quite long and had a trail of symbols.

"It is activated by spreading blood, each symbol is one group of items. They come out in the same group as they went in. Since you guys have no chakra yours can be used by any blood, doesn't even need to be much, so be careful. And yes, it is water-resistant."

"How much is 'not much'?" Annabeth asked, trying to analyse the script in her scroll.

"Biting your finger and pressing it should be enough. It is painful until you get used though, so you better keep it for emergencies for now.

Oh, Percy, this one is for you!"

He threw the boy another, much smaller scroll.

"This one got the weapons and shield I gave you. Just in case."

The boy nodded.

IIIII

Naruto waited at the exit of the Big House as Clarisse came down, a furious expression on her face.

"That bad?" he joked, but Clarisse was not in the mood.

"Yes, that bad. Apparently I am going to fail. Even with your 'help'."

Grudgingly, she moved aside, letting Naruto pass.

He refused.

"I do not believe in definite prophecies, that destiny is already written. I'd rather not give myself the headache."

"Lucky you," she replied, punching the closest wall.

"Oi, it can't have been that bad."

She looked deep in his eyes, anger clear in them.

"Did I do something wrong? You know, besides the whole taking your place of honor and stealing the spotlight and I'll shut up now."

"The prophecy clearly said your group is my enemy."

Naruto tilted his head, confused.

Clarisse took a deep breath, and said the message.

" _As you join forces with the enemy  
The path shall open with clarity  
A great sickness shall appear  
Filling your companions with fear  
This quest filled with blasphemy  
Shall meet its final steps with you in tomb of ebony  
The elder light you will meet  
And feel the taste of defeat  
But child do not be afflicted  
Your quest by human hand shall not be completed._"

Naruto nodded. "And you took it to mean we are the enemy."

"Of course! What else could it mean?"

"A lot of things. Percy, Annabeth and me got to the conclusion that the poisoning of the tree may be Kronos—"

"The one who tried to control my father?" she replied with gritted teeth.

"The very same. We know Luke is working for him, and think he poisoned the tree just so we go after the Golden Fleece. That means that they will try to guide us on the way, but not involve themselves enough they'd be in danger themselves, just to try to steal it.  
Either way, if the prophecy is right you _need_ their help to find your path."

"Well, that still leaves the parts of meeting my final steps in a tomb of ebony, tasting defeat and the quest not being completed by human hand."

"The tomb part is the easier, it says final step _s_ meaning it is not over yet. You are still alive, probably on someone else's tomb. And about not being completed by human hand… I'm taking Tyson and we'll try to save Grover. They do not count as humans exactly."

Clarisse wanted to complain, but that was a not-failure possibility among the failure vibes the prophecy had.

"So, my team is chosen. What about yours?"

"I was thinking about some people from my cabin. But father can't leave the camp and everyone else… do not respect me much."

"Then go for people of other cabins. Get a more rounded group, some people with skills you don't have. A team can go with all the same, but it is much better with different people doing different things."

Clarisse nodded. "If that's so… she'd probably agree, and if so did he she'd be even happier…"

"I'll leave you thinking about everything," Naruto finished, going to his tent while Clarisse went in the direction of … _Aphrodite_ 's cabin?

IIIII

Naruto woke up with a start. It was a night of the full moon, and pretty late already.

"Was that Percy's voice? What's he doing screaming my name at this hour?"

Quietly as to not wake the palicos, he exited his tent and went in the direction the call came from, trying to avoid the security harpies.

He reached the beach where Percy was right on time to see a man disappear.

Seeing there was nothing wrong, he approached Percy more calmly, seeing seven bags on the ground – all yellow.

He raised an eyebrow. "Free bags?"

"Gifts from Hermes," Percy agreed. "He wants us to try to convince Luke to come back."

"Well, he _is_ his father," Naruto shrugged.

It was at that point that Annabeth and Tyson arrived, followed by Clarisse with… Silena and Beckendorf?

"What are you all doing here?" Clarisse asked. "Hearing voices too?"

"Apparently Hermes called us all here," Naruto answered.

"Yes," Percy explained, "he told me to ask my father for help getting into that ship over there."

It was a big cruise ship cutting across Long Island Sound, its white-and-gold lights glowing against the dark water.

"Well, that's good," Clarisse said. "Father said that without his powers he can't call a ship for us, so we'd have to find a new one anyway."

"But how do we get there? It already departed," asked Beckendorf.

"Hermes said for me to ask help from my father…" Percy answered.

"Well then, Seaweed Brain? What are you waiting for?" Annabeth asked.

Percy stepped into the sea. "Uhm, Dad? How's it going?"

"The ship is going…" reminded Silena.

"…Isn't it going a bit too fast?" asked Beckendorf, confused. And if there was one thing he knew about was engines…

"We need your help. We need to get to that ship, like, as soon as possible, so…"

White lines appeared on the sea, moving to the shore. As they got close enough, the head of three beautiful horses appeared.

"Fish horsies!" Tyson said happily.

Their front were white horses, but their back was like silver fishes with rainbow tail fins.

"Hippocampi! They're beautiful," Annabeth said, with Silena nodding in agreement.

"Yes, good job fish-head," said Clarisse, giving everyone their bags. "Everybody ready? Time to go!"

IIIII

 **I make Naruto's words mine. I'll try to give her something good someday to compensate.**

 **And yes, that means seven people invading Princess Andromeda, and at least two of them that won't leave without a fight.**

 **Going to somewhere called Sea of Monsters.**

 **In a Monster Hunter crossover.**

 **Let the** _ **real**_ **changes begin.**


	18. Assuming Direct Control

**Just a warning, last chapter the Golden Fleece's story was a bit wrong with names… because it was wrong** _ **in the book**_ **. Naruto mentioned he didn't know much about the Fleece but that the Argonauts searched for it, so Annabeth's error in the book was repeated there since there was no one to correct her.**

IIIII

"How do we get aboard?" Annabeth shouted over the noise of the waves.

As an answer the sea horses took them right beside a service ladder.

Naruto patted his horse's head and jumped, stopping sideways on the ship's hull, surprising the humans that didn't know he could wall-walk.

Which meant everyone but Tyson, who was playing with his horse and not paying attention. He never got to the point of telling or even showing them it last time.

"Come on, people! More climbing, less gawking!"

"Can you blame us?" Percy asked. "What's next, you can walk on water?"

"Uh… Yeah, it _is_ the next level…"

The humans just looked at him in surprise.

His eye twitched. "Climb."

As each of them climbed, their hippocampus whinned farewell and dove back under the sea.

Until it was just Tyson, Naruto and their horses.

"Come on, Tyson, time to go."

"Can't we take Rainbow?" he asked, his mirth leaving.

"Rainbow?" Percy asked, above them.

"Can Rainbow climb ladders?" Naruto asked.

Tyson looked at the sea-horse, who shook its head with a sad look.

Tyson hugged the horse. "I'll miss you, Rainbow."

The horse gave a sad whine back,

"Hey, it's not like you can't meet again later, right?" Naruto said with a smile.

"Oh, please! Tomorrow!"

"No promises, but let's try to be as fast as we can so you can meet again."

The seven ended up in a deck filled with lifeboats. Naruto quickly opened the locked double doors nearby and they entered the ship for real.

The corridors were empty. Even the internal shops seemed closed. No sound from the cabins, not even a snore.

"It's a ghost ship," Percy said, making Naruto tense and give him a glare. "Sorry."

"No. Bad smell," said Tyson.

"Bad smell? As in 'satyrs can tell if monsters are nearby' bad smell?"

Tyson nodded.

They arrived at the swimming pool, and around them could see other entertainment things. All empty.

"Everyone else getting a bad feeling?" asked Beckendorf.

"Besides the whole 'there are monsters somewhere' thing?" Naruto asked.

Everyone but Tyson blinked at that.

Naruto blinked at _that_. Why would they forget about it like that?

"We need a hiding place. Somewhere safe to sleep," Percy said.

Clarisse yawned as an agreement.

They kept looking, trying to find somewhere they could hide. Maybe barricade an empty room?

On the ninth level, they found somewhere. Much more comfortable than Naruto was expecting.

An empty suite with the door open.

With a basked of chocolates, a bottle of cider on ice, and a mint on the pillow with a note saying "Enjoy your cruise".

"Why are the rooms ready without anyone?" Naruto asked, suspicious.

"Standard procedure?" Beckendorf said with a shrug.

For _some reason_ Naruto _really_ doubted that.

"Anyway, guys in this room, girls in the next?" Percy asked.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea…" Naruto replied. "Even if they didn't find us, there are monsters around."

"Yes, but not here," Percy argued. "We just need to close the door and be quiet. Would they enter the room when they don't expect there to be anyone in it?"

"…"

Naruto looked around. Everyone seemed to be agreeing with Percy.

"Clarisse, you're your team leader. Do I _need_ to tell you what is wrong with Percy's plan?"

"Besides being made by Jackson? It is weird because it makes sense."

"I don't know," said Annabeth. "Something doesn't feel right here."

Naruto pointed to the bottle of cider on ice.

"…I don't get it," said Percy, and everyone nodded.

Naruto grunted in frustration… then his eyes widened.

IIIII

" _You two are_ completely unsuited _for making illusions," Tsukiyomi declared._

 _Artemis and Naruto only widened their eyes. All they did was wear the mask for a few seconds and Tsukiyomi did a one hundred and eighty on his decision of teaching them his art._

" _While wearing my mask I could see your compatibility with me and my abilities. And besides your connection to moons, Artemis and me are incompatible._

 _She is direct. She dislikes the thought of using trickery, and wants to learn illusion only because it could be useful and not an actual interest. And, despite her strategies being effective, she lacks the imaginative skills needed to twist the very fabric of reality into anything possible in the eyes of the enemy."_

 _Artemis was going to protest that last one, but Tsukiyomi beat her, turning the mask to her face._

" _I do not mean you lack imagination in general. But that you lack imagination to deceive, to change reality in your eyes. You are unable to properly imagine what-if, instead focusing in the practical 'what can I do with what I have'."_

 _In fact, you could say you are anathema to creating illusions, for you seek the truth instead of falsity."_

 _Properly mollified, Artemis got curious why Naruto was not compatible._

" _Yes, Naruto on the other hand… you can appreciate trickery. You can see the possibilities of changing someone's perception of reality, can_ imagine _how it works like none other I've met yet. You can_ lie _if you want, and can have fun doing it._

 _But you are not a liar. You are a trickster. Your lies are always with an objective, most of it amusement. Never to actually befuddle the truth. You are too direct, too… honest, in the long run of things. You can barely trick yourself for long. Trickery for you is a means to an end, not the end itself._

 _You would be able to learn minor illusions, your so-called Genjutsu, like a pro if you put your mind to it. I dare say you'd be a natural. But I do not use_ Genjutsu _._

 _I use the_ very concept _of Illusion, of Deception. Think of it, Artemis, as me controlling the whole Mist you use to trick mortals, but on everything. Think of it Naruto, of me being the very thing that keeps people masked, unable to gain credit for their actions, or keeps them manipulative, using others like puppets. Very easy concept to understand, but for you two to accept, to wield as your own? No, you two are incompatible with my Illusions._

 _But that does not mean I cannot teach you how to_ combat _my field. When I am done with you, while I cannot promise about manipulation, the only one whose illusion will not be able to be shattered will be a god of illusion like myself or your Hecate."_

 _Naruto and Artemis looked at each other, then nodded and bowed to the floating mask._

" _But first, Uzumaki Naruto, you need to claim your heritage. While your link to the moon allows me to visit, to use my full might through you would need permission from the one you are really compatible to with your Uzumaki heritage._

 _Of course, I have my bets already on which of us would be, but I was surprised by your mother's compatibility to Shinigami instead of… but I digress._

 _We need to go to the Temple of Masks so I can train you properly."_

IIIII

Naruto arrangen everyone around him, put his hand like a claw and _pulled_.

The others' eyes opened wide, their visions getting clearer.

"That was just like at Lotus Hotel in New York!" Percy declared, his head finally clear.

"If you say so. I only got decent training against this now."

Understatement, being trained by the equivalent of Hecate on illusions to resisting them. The only reason the Mist affected him at all is because it was made by Hecate herself, and he was unsure if when controlled by someone else it would still work.

"We were tricked!" said Clarisse angry. "If we stayed here…"

"Probably," said Annabeth. "Or they could be overconfident and think they got time. Either way, better to set a guard."

"I'll get the first watch, I'm too pissed at them to sleep right now," declared Clarisse.

"Does that mean we can't eat the chocolate?" Silena joked.

They opened their bags. Hermes really seemed to have thought of everything, there were some clothes, toiletries, rations, money both mortal and drachmas, even personal things of the campers were there, like Annabeth's cap, Tyson's tinkering project and Silena's diary.

Naruto carried his scroll with most useful things, but it was appreciated.

IIIII

A whistle sounded, awakening everyone who was still asleep.

"Is this what you pay for in these cruises?" Beckendorf asked snarkily. He had taken the second to last watch and had _just_ fallen asleep again.

"Good morning, passengers! We'll be at sea all day today. Excellent weather for the poolside mambo party! Don't forget million-dollar bingo in the Kraken Lounge at one o'clock, and for our special guests, disemboweling practice on the Promenade!" said a happy voice in the intercoms.

"Let me guess who the 'special guests' are," said Clarisse, pointing her electric spear at the door.

After they each took their turns taking a shower and getting dressed, they went out of their 'safe' room to meet the rest of the ship… and were surprised to this time see people. As in _human_ people.

Human people who were _not_ acting like human people, if the creepy monotone way they repeated the same thing and declared they were having fun was any clue.

"Can you… do to them the same you did to us?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, but at this point it'd just cause panic. I don't think the mist would do much to hide the fact they were brainwashed and kidnapped. Now, remember to act natural, pretend nothing is wrong if you meet monsters. You were not as deep, but were still a bit under."

It was a good thing they were warned, because soon they met the first one, a hellhound eating scrambled eggs on the buffet while a couple waited in line.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Tyson declared.

Before anyone could reply, they heard a reptilian voice.

"Ssssix more joined yesssterday."

Everyone scrambled to the nearest hiding place – the women's restroom. Save for Naruto, who jumped upwards.

It was a pair of snake-women, but instead of one big tail under the waist it was one tail each leg.

"Yesss. He drawssss them. Ssssoon we will be sssstrong."

They laughed as they entered the cafeteria.

"We have to get out of here," said Annabeth.

"You think I want to be in the girls' restroom?" Percy asked.

"I mean the ship, Percy! We have to get off the ship."

"Smells bad. And dogs eat all the eggs. Annabeth is right. We must leave the restroom and ship," Tyson agreed.

"And run away?" Clarisse objected.

"Clarisse, we are outnumbered for who knows how many. Maybe you could do it yourself, but what about us?" Silena pleaded.

"What about everyone else in the ship though?" asked Beckendorf. "Will we just leave them alone with the monsters?"

That shut everyone. They didn't even think about the mortals.

"I'd need a good enough distraction to have time to free everyone and send them on the lifeboats," Naruto said, jumping down. "A battle could be a good one, but then you six would be at risk."

"Worth it," said Clarisse.

Everyone else nodded at that. "Not leaving people behind to be hurt," Tyson added.

Naruto nodded… then his shoulders tensed and he pushed everyone went back to the restroom.

"—only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius!"

It was Luke, without a doubt. Percy, Clarisse and Beckendorf's faces filled with determination, while Annabeth's filled with hurt and Silena's with worry.

"I'm not pushing you!" another voice growled. "I'm just saying, if this gamble doesn't pay off—"

"It'll pay off. They'll take the bait. Now, come, we've got to get to the admiralty suite and check on the casket."

Clarisse went to advance, but Beckendorf pulled her back.

"We need to find out his plans first."

"That's what he wants," Naruto said.

Annabeth nodded. "He mentioned someone taking a bait. He must be wanting to make us try to follow him. But why? What would he want from us?"

"The Golden Fleece?" Silena asked. "If he found out we are searching for it, it'd be easier for him to trick us into getting it for him then using his forces to take it from us in turn."

Naruto nodded. "Alright, I got a plan."

IIIII

"Are you sure you can do all that?" Annabeth asked.

"Would not be the first time," Naruto replied. "The harder thing will be to keep them calm enough."

"I can do it!" said Silena. "Just wait until we reach the boat before doing your part."

Clarisse slapped his back. "I like this plan!"

"You just like that you'll be in the thick of the action," smirked Percy.

"No denying here."

"Alright people, time to go. Our hosts are waiting!"

IIIII

Percy, Annabeth and Clarisse went through the ship, following the signs, Annabeth in front invisible while Percy and Clarisse avoided most people on her word. They did not want mortals caught in the crossfire, and had no idea how extensive were their orders.

Near their destination, though, Annabeth told them to hide, pushing them into a closet.

Two talking male voices passed by them. Annabeth held Percy's arm tightly at recognizing one of them, while Clarisse growled.

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?"

"Yeah, it's awesome. I hear they got two more coming. They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man—no contest!"

"That was Chris Rodriguez! You remember, from Cabin Eleven," said Annabeth, removing her cap.

"That traitor! How could him!" Clarisse complained.

"Wasn't he an undetermined?" Percy asked. "Not defending him, but maybe he got tired and just wants to strike back at the parent that didn't seem to care about him."

"And screw everyone else?" Clarisse asked angrily.

"I just said I was not defending him."

"It doesn't matter," interrupted Annabeth. "We have a job to do."

They kept going, following an increasing sense of cold. On the way they saw some monsters – a couple hellhounds, some Lagostrian giants like the ones that attacked Percy at school, even a few Scythian Dracanae, the dragon women Naruto saw while they were in the bathroom – cheering as someone in greek armor attacked and ripped apart a straw doll dressed like a camper at Camp Half-Blood.

They approached a set of double doors, and were able to hear voices.

"—the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn," said a voice – Luke's.

"You really think the old horseman is gone for good?" said the voice of whoever he was talking to earlier.

"They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."

Clarisse growled.

"Quiet!" hissed the other voice.

The doors burst open, and there was Luke flanked by two men that looked like giant bears, pointing spears with bronze tips at them.

"Wel. If it isn't my two favorite cousins… And Clarisse. Come right in."

The three sneered, but entered the room, but only after the Naruto that was hidden in the ceiling with a copy of Annabeth's cap gave the signal.

All was going according to plan.

IIIII

'Say anything about how she acts different from the other Aphrodite children, Silena certainly knows her makeup.'

Beckendorf followed Tyson through the ship, his face irrecognizeable, toward the engines room. Unlike Percy, Clarisse and Annabeth he and Tyson needed to blend in… for now.

IIIII

Silena waited with Naruto right where they arrived, watching as many more Narutos wore the copy of Annabeth's cap in their hand and spreading through the ship.

IIIII

"Well, a little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh?" Luke said proudly, spreading his arms. He was wearing a more common, and expensive, set of clothes, but Percy's attention was on the eyepatch over a white scar too big for the actual wound he gave him.

From his position in the ceiling, Naruto looked around. It was a big room, about as big as the whole Hermes cabin. The windows gave a great view of the ocean, the rug on the wooden floor seemed expensive, the two sofas and the bed looked extremely comfortable, and the table was filled with junk food.

It also had a giant golden casket in the middle of the room with a text in what seemed a hard to find language, if the heating of his translation amulet meant anything, saying it belonged to "Kronos, Lord of Time". It held many images in poor taste, to Naruto's judgement, and it clearly made the surroundings feel colder and sicker.

He had to try _really_ hard not to screw with the plan just to tell Luke to find a better decorator.

Or to tell him not to leave his sword on a sofa away more than his arm's length while there are clearly enemies there, a trap or not.

"Sit," Luke said, and three chairs moved themselves to the center of the room.

"Where are my manners? These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."

No one said anything.

"You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story? Their mother… well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say?"

Naruto's eyes widened, then tightened again. It was no time to think about this. But he would have a talk with her about this…

 _Yeah right. I bet you would just let it go if I don't reming you._

"They fight with one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though…"

"For lunch," growled the one Luke called Agrius earlier, the one who was obviously Oreius laughing and licking his lips. Laughing so much Luke and Agrius stared at him.

"Shut up, you idiot! Go punish yourself!" said Agrius.

Oreius whimpered, walked to a stool in the corner of the room and started hitting his head on the dining table.

The way Luke didn't reacted showed it was pretty normal for him. He just sat on the sofa, feet on the coffee table.

"Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?"

"You poisoned Thalia's tree," Percy's growled.

"Right to the point, eh?" Luke said with a sigh. "Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"

"How could you?" Annabeth asked angrily, "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her—"

"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke answered, just as angry if not more, "The gods dishonored her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."

"Liar!"

No, Naruto could see. Luke was pretty sure she would.

He had no opinion though. He didn't know the girl as more than a pretty and mighty tree.

"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand—"

"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" she yelled. "You're a monster!"

"The gods have blinded you," Luke replied, shaking his head. "Can't you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is that ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your intelligence, Annabeth."

"Because you have none of your own!"

"I know you, Annabeth. You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the month."

"And whose fault is that?" Clarisse finally said, losing her patience.

Luke ignored her.

"The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction."

"We survived before your girlfriend arrived and became landscape. We can do so again! Unlike you, we are not afraid of some hard work."

Luke was clearly losing his cool with her. Naruto couldn't help but appreciate her ability to irritate people.

"You really want to be on a losing team… with company like your team? Traveling with a cyclops… Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory. I'm surprised at you, Annabeth. You of all people—"

"Tyson is not that one!" she shot back.

"He is a cyclops."

"You are a demigod," Percy shot back. "How is the camp working for you—oh wait!"

Luke looked furious at Percy, but then laughed.

"Oh, yeah, I heard. Your father claimed him."

Percy got a surprised look on his face.

"Yes, Percy, I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again ... 30, 31, 75, 12? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."

"Spies, you mean."

Luke just shrugged.

"How many insults from your father can you stand, Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for that monster?" he chuckled. "The gods are so using you, Percy. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteenth birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?"

Percy's face got even more surprised and confused, but then got a fierce look. "I know what I need to know. Like, who my enemies are."

"Then you're a fool."

"Better a fool than an idiot," Annabeth shot back. "At least fools can learn, unlike you."

"Luke, listen to me," Percy stopped before they could continue. "Your father sent us."

Naruto couldn't see Luke's face from this angle, but he was sure it was angry from the tone of his voice.

"Don't… even… _mention_ him."

"He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are."

"Angry? Give up on me?" Luke roared, "He abandoned me, Percy! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. _He_ grows stronger."

Luke pointed to the gold sarcophagus.

"So? What's so special… Whoa, you don't mean—"

"He is re-forming. Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears—"

"That's disgusting!" Annabeth said.

"Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk.  
Soon there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work worthy of the forges of Hephaestus. Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame – whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age!"

"Go to Tartarus," she replied.

"A shame," Luke said with a sigh.

He then pulled out a remote control.

Naruto decided it meant that was as much info as they'd likely get.

One second, Luke was going to press a red button. The next, he was breaking the coffee table with his face.

Agrius was so surprised he did not react until after the ninja jumped over the captives and broke his spear.

Freed and on the advantage, the three prisoners stood up, Clarisse going for her electric spear she had been forced to throw on the ground while Percy quickly uncapped Riptide.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Agrius snarled, jumping towards Naruto with a punch. He definitely did not expect to have his arm caught and be flipped over his supposed victim, or for Percy to stick Riptide on his chest.

Oreius quickly charged angrily, only fury on his eyes, only killing Naruto and Percy in his mind. He completely ignored Clarisse until her spear had pierced his heart.

All in all, an anticlimactic battle.

Luke started standing up, just to get a punch to the gut courtesy of Naruto.

"When… how…"

"Doesn't really matter, be grateful I didn't just kill you," Naruto said, kicking Backbiter away from the Hermes demigod.

"I take this ship in the name of Camp Half-Blood," he declared, hands in his hips.

Luke just blinked. "Are you insane?"

"Quite possibly."

"You really think seven people are able to fight against an army of monsters? Because that's what this ship got. You'd have to throw _us all_ out to take it over."

"That's the plan."

He then turned to the others, effectively ignoring what was supposed to be the enemy general.

"I'm moving on with the plan. Can you guys take over here from now on?"

"Pretty sure we can," Clarisse said sarcastically.

Naruto nodded and dispelled, and the ship stopped.

Percy went to grab Backbiter—

"Ah! Cold!"

The girls turned to the Poseidon demigod, whose hand seemed to be ice-burned.

Luke, taking advantage of it, jumped and grabbed the sword, rolling to a standing position.

Annabeth quickly drew her knife.

"Give up Luke, it's three against one," said Percy.

"You are right," Luke agreed. "It is a bit unfair…"

He then pulled off his eyepatch, revealing a red eye with three commas that started spinning.

"…for you three…"

IIIII

Charles Beckendorf and Tyson prepared themselves. They had did their job as soon as the message was confirmed: a ship-stopping "quick fix" to the engines, that they'd be able to fix easily but that was hard for someone not in the know to notice. And since Naruto and Silena started their part as soon as they did theirs…

Now for the hard part. The Naruto with them would help, but they were still going to have to fight their way back to the deck.

IIIII

Silena would be gaping at the hundreds of invisible Narutos carrying to her and freeing both passengers and crewmembers, if she wasn't too busy charmspeaking as many as possible to calmly enter the lifesaver boats with a Naruto. The crewmembers all had enough equipment to call for rescue, but the Narutos were there just for safety's sake.

IIIII

Luke hid it, but he was nervous. This was his first time using the eye in real battle, and against both Percy, who he doubted did not train for their rematch, and Clarisse, one of the best fighters at camp with the spear.

Annabeth was there too, but… she had a knife. Against a sword. Definitelly out of her depth.

He advanced on Percy, since Clarisse was on his sharingan side.

For the others, it was the smoothest evading they had ever seen. For Luke, he was surprised her stab was that fast, even with the eye letting him see the path in advance he ended up almost getting hit.

But he smiled, hiding his surprise smoothly. He now knew her speed, now he could avoid her properly.

Percy was also quite faster than he expected. More precise too, almost no wasted movements or natural tells. Seriously, who had he been training with?

All in all, quite the hard battle, but survivable even with it being two against one thanks to the eye. Luke had to admit he wasn't expecting quite the rush of adrenaline from a battle anymore.

He jumped backwards on top of the sofa to avoid a slash from Percy, and then again over it to block Clarisse's new stab. He was sure from the two's expression that it seemed much more fluid for them that could not notice every detail and see opponent action in advance.

And the guy had said that if his real plan failed and Thalia died it would become even more powerful? He would shudder at the thought of fighting someone with an even better eye if he wasn't too occupied fighting for his life.

He laughed in excitement as he parried Percy's slash, but he was pretty sure the others would take it as mocking.

But of course, his fun would not last.

"Something's wrong!" yelled a dragon woman as she pushed the door open, "The engines are talking about invaders and the mortals are Ack—"

Wow, Annabeth could be ruthless if you let her get close enough.

But he frowned. They were acting stupid enough they probably really thought they could take over the ship, and really, considering the plan he would just trick and drop them as close to their destination as he could anyway, but without the engines it would be useless.

Fun over, he maneuvered past the three demigods and out of the room, on his way to the engine room, the three trying their best to follow him…

And then he met the blond son of Artemis again.

Together with a furious Silena Beauregard.

…Well!

"You… you…" she said, spluttering. "It is good you decided to stay on the side of the monsters, that way no one has any doubts about what you are!"

Well that was unfair.

He opened his mouth to say just that, but was interrupted.

"You tricked me!" she practically shrieked. He couldn't help raising his eyebrow, even that she was able to make fairly attractive, daughter of Aphrodite indeed. "Then when I found out you were a traitor you blackmailed me with telling people I was your spy and said that if I refused to keep giving you info then people would suffer. Yet here I see you turning people into puppets, as if they were not even worthy of their conscience!"

Oh. When she puts it like this it does sound kinda bad.

"And with the monsters here, who knows as what else is being done to them?"

Now, it's not like monsters just go around attacking people for no reason!

"They are just mortals—"

"They are people!" the girl interrupted again, anger in her voice. Well, the interruption completely made his argument sound much worse than in his mind.  
"Now that I saw to what depths you've sunk, I'd rather be kicked away from the camp than taint my soul associating with you any more than I already did."

…

Well fuck. Now he lost a spy _and_ looks like a cartoon villain.

He then looked at the boy in orange… and blinked.

Was he seeing an energy surrounding him?

Was that chakra?

He was so confused by the view he did not notice the other boy's eyes widening back at seeing his new eye.

IIIII

The Zetsu's expression turned into one of confusion.

"What the _flying fuck_ is he doing there?" asked Black Zetsu to no one.

IIIII

One second Luke was looking confused at Naruto.

The next he was seeing a fist coming at him at high speed.

The next one, he was thrown backwards to the ground by the fist that hit his red eye.

"What the—"

"So, having fun seeing the future?" Naruto asked in a cold tone. "How did you get one of those?"

Luke went to attack. One second he was standing up. The next a hand was going for his neck in his watering eye. The very next he was already lifted in the air by the neck.

"Something a friend of mine born with a pair of those also learned the hard way: it doesn't matter if you can see if you're not fast enough to dodge."

Blade still in hand, he tried cutting the orange-clad boy… just to be thrown at the wall before the blade even nicked him.

"Dude, really? I've been dealing with faster while handicapped. And I am at my best right now."

Luke noticed the energy slowly leaving the blond's arm. So this is what chakra could do when on the whole body…

"Seriously, this is so unfair…" complained Clarisse. "I wish I was a ninja too."

A ninja? Really? So this was a ninja eye?

"Are you the one in charge?" Naruto asked him, ignoring the girl.

"I'm the second in command," Luke answered.

"…Is the first the one in the coffin?"

Luke didn't answer, but his silence seemed to be confirmation enough. Naruto just grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him above deck.

On the way they were joined by Beckendorf, the cyclops and what confirmed Silena's info that the Naruto guy could copy himself.

Naruto and his copy each grabbed an arm of the older boy, dragging him to the deck. No mortal was visible, and a bunch of monsters were already there, with more arriving.

A third Naruto gave Clarisse a megaphone, while Naruto gave her invisible cap back to Annabeth with his free hand.

"Attention all monsters and whoever else made the mistake of allying with Luke Castellan and his boss!" the girl declared. "Your leader is out of combat, your second in command is captured. Your boat is sabotaged and will not depart without our permission. You have only three choices: fight us and lose, surrender, or go for the lifesaving boats and leave."

The monsters started laughing… until a Lagostrian giant fell down from a flash of bronze, falling down and disintegrating, leaving behind a… definitely not bronze kind of dagger.

Luke's eyes widened at that.

Naruto calmly took the megaphone from Clarisse and said his own words.

"Let me make it clearer. You either leave the ship, surrender or die. And nothing inside the ship, be it human, demigod or whatever, will make us change our mind."

Luke then saw something wrong with his sharingan…

Something wrong and _approaching_.

His blood ran cold.

IIIII

Naruto was _much_ more tired than he let on. He usually creates a bunch of Shadow Clones during battles, with adrenaline fuel. That means that he never noticed how _tiring_ it was. And he doubted he ever created as many as he did during this plan.

And even if their unused energy is split back when they dispel, they used a _lot_ to save those people as quick as possible. The fact this was his first time removing illusions from others and the number of times he did so did not help.

Ever since defeating the bear duo, every move was planned to seem effortless. Keyword _seem_.

Naruto was tiring. And reinforcing his body like that to be faster and stronger was _not_ helping.

But he definitely could not _show_ it.

"Let me make it clearer. You either leave the ship, surrender or die. And nothing inside the ship, be it human, demigod or whatever, will make us change our mind."

No monster inside the ship made any move.

"Question!" Luke asked, a panicked tone in his voice.

Naruto turned to him, his head tilted.

"What about monsters _outside_ the ship?"

At that moment, two long, skeletal necks topped with dragon skulls rose from the waters.

Naruto looked at the bone dragons. Then at Luke and the other demigods.

"The fuck is this?"

No answer. Each and every one of them just seemed terrified, even Luke.

He turned to the monsters.

"The fuck is that?"

Some of them had the presence of mind to shrug. That was better than the demigods did at least.

He then turned to the nearest bone dragon.

"The fuck are you?"

His only answer was dark mist rising around the ship, and a mix of black and red sparks visible inside one of the mouths.

IIIII

 _As soon as they reached the Temple, Naruto wasted no time._

 _The mask was_ calling _for him,_ begging _for him to wear it. While the others held a sense of power, this one had a sense of_ belonging _._

 _Naruto wore the mask… and soon Naruto was Naruto no more._

 _Outside, Artemis looked at the exiting masked body, nervous due to Tsukiyomi's tense surprise._

" _You are not Inari," said Tsukiyomi to the awakened mask._

"… _Really?" the masked Naruto said in surprise._

" _Really. Susanoo, what are you doing here?"_

" _Sheesh, no need to glare. So I wasn't the best guy overall. I'm not the only one who made mistakes, mister 'I answer perceived insults by killing the person'. Did Ammy forgive_ you _yet?"_

 _Artemis noticed that Tsukiyomi's eyeholes started shining coldly._

" _But I grew up. Not as much as most would like, but I did._

 _Naruto here is the same. He started a little rough around the edges, but I can see potential for him to rise through himself in the future. Just never expect him to be a philosopher or diplomat. He talks through his actions and his only viable diplomacy is being himself, for good or bad."_

 _Tsukiyomi sighed. But at least it wasn't that bad as before, his brother really got better after saving and marrying Kushinada._

 _Key word_ better _. He could still be an ass from time to time._

IIIII

 **As with many crossover stories Naruto begins a bit OP compared to the people in the other world… Mainly because he uses chakra for a while while most on PJ don't even know to use their abilities yet (if they ever do). But this will change.**

 **It was said constantly by Percy that something in the ship was wrong and familiar, but Percy couldn't tell what it was. I believe it was a compulsion not to see anything wrong, just not too strong, since Kronos and Luke wanted to use them and they literally ignored Luke saying outright he was baiting someone (who could only be them).**

 **Naruto learning how to avoid illusions from Susanoo was in my mind since the beginning. But of course, keep in mind he is still learning.**

 **And before saying anything, no, Dark!Naruto is** _ **not**_ **an illusion.**

 **Yes, I know, linking Naruto to storms is cliché. But, as Susanoo said, their personalities fit. Susanoo was a superpowered brat when he was a kami at first, just like Naruto was a brat before the series starts. Then he is stuck in a mortal body, and starts mellowing and maturing, his most famous accomplishment being saving his wife from Orochi by tricking it, disguising himself as a woman and feeding it sake before actually fighting it. Compare to turning into lots of attractive half-naked men to be able to punch Kaguya.**

 **Besides, Naruto is Maelstron Whirlpool, descendante from the Whirlpool Village, son of Kushina(da), whose main attack is variations of a storm sphere. Of** _ **course**_ **Susanoo would be a technique of… the Uchiha…**

 **And behold the Nakarkos, which used to be known as Osutogaroa. It is mostly known to appear on land, but according to the wiki it is just as good a challenge on water. Now, I never fought it, mostly because its game is not released yet outside Japan, but I'll do my best to make the fight entertaining and realistic based on the wiki descriptions.**


	19. Skulls and Bones

**Damn it, stop thinking about the future chapters so much and write** _ **this one**_ **, me!**

 **On my defense, I helped my father with buying some things for his stores and ended up having some ideas for other stories while on the road. And after that, some university work.**

… **Also, Monster Hunter Generations was released…**

 **The addition of the Nakarkos was an idea by Biowind. I admit my initial idea was an Abyssal Lagiacrus. He also gave an idea I thought was great that will be implemented later.  
Also helped with some ideas for the battle, since I was having some troubles imagining the fight properly. There were some pieces, but no connections between them.  
I needed the help. I'm not happy with the chapter, but without it it'd be worse.**

 **And… This Naruto is darker than usual thanks to the Frenzy Virus, yes, but it is a gradual process when out of battle. He arguing with Dark Naruto should be proof that he is resisting.  
Of course, he isn't resisting as much, but that's because Dark Naruto knows which battles to use. Say some things in anger, say some things to annoy those he doesn't like. But things like killing Luke while he was helpless or pulling his new eye out are still a big jump.  
On the other hand, I personally think Naruto was more brutal than usual in both "battles" against Luke. Luke was way out of his league, and Naruto knew it.  
Gradual corruption.**

IIIIII

 **WARNING: THIS CHAPTER MAY BE A BIG SPOILER OF THE FIGHT AGAINST THE NAKARKOS  
(not like Monster Hunter Generations has much of a storyline…)**

IIIII

Naruto wasted no time, he _could not_ waste any time if he hoped anyone survived.

As fast as he could he supercharged his chakra in his feet, adding an explosive impulse to his jump. The ground was wrecked, but he reached the height he needed.

He kicked the head as hard as he could, making it face upwards… thus when the visible red laser escaped the mouth it missed the ship, _not_ killing everyone and everything onboard but, maybe, Percy.

Naruto landed back on the deck, breathing hard. That took a lot of chakra, and he barely dented the bone.

As an answer, the other head threw a sphere of a blue liquid at Naruto – at high speed. Naruto as still able to avoid the shot, but the giant behind him was not so lucky, being covered by the blue liquid and thrown backwards on top of someone in greek armor.

Rising up, the armored person found out it was stuck on the giant's back. Said giant tried grabbing a giant crab nearby and using its claw to push the person off him, but then found out _the crab_ was stuck in his hand…

The head that shot the laser earlier then came down and bit the legs of the giant, before dragging itself and its three catches down the ocean.

A dracanae tried walking away from the remaining head, only to fall down, one of its tail-like legs stuck in a small puddle of blue liquid on the ground.

"What the… thissss isss sssome ssort of glue?"

The other head moved, faster than most of them could see, to eat the dracanae like it did the other three earlier.

Fortunatelly for her, Luke was one of those that could see, was one of the better swordsmen at camp while there, and Naruto neglected removing the sword from him while the clones held him, grip that loosened when the… _thing_ appeared.

Without hesitation, Luke swung his sword where the eye said would be between the spine bones. The sword cut true, making dark blue blood drip from the cut—

Yet he head was still there.

"The hell is this?" asked Luke, panicked.

"It is a monster," Naruto answered as if it was obvious.

"That is _not_ a monster! Monsters are weak to Celestial Bronze! The way it answered to Backbiter was the same as a mortal or animal to normal weapons!"

"There are monsters and monsters. The one you deal with are based on myth archetypes. This one is descendant from an ancient bio-engineered weapon. We are lucky it is even _hurt_ by Celestial Bronze. Heads up!"

That said, he kicked the Hermes demigod away, letting the two get out of reach of the monstruous head.

The second head emerged from the water… or maybe it was a different one, since it was not a head. It seemed to have a claw on the top of the spine.

That second of a breather allowed them to see the snake-like appendages properly. They were a bunch of bones, not all of them vertebrae, linked by something dark with blue spheres visible here and there between them.

Were they being attacked by zombie sea serpents?

"Everyone, get your weapons!" Clarisse commanded, spear ready to strike and crackling with electricity.

Tyson closed his hands into fists, being stronger than most monsters even at his young age. Beckendorf readied his hammer. Percy and Luke grabbed their swords.

Annabeth readied her knife. Silena didn't have even that.

Naruto sighed.

"Percy, the scroll!" he yelled. "If you won't use them, let the others do!"

After a bit of confusion, Percy throws Naruto the scroll with the weapons the shinobi gave him. Unfortunatelly that attracts the monster's attention, forving him to try to block the approaching claw with Riptide – and being thrown back for the effort. He skidded painfully on the ground, but was not hurt much (in his mind, he thanked the sea air, that was humid enough to help him a bit).

Then he was hit on the back of the head by a shield.

"Sorry!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards the two relatively unnarmed girls, Percy's second sword and spear in his hands.  
The skull head went for him fiercely, but he jumped before being hit, using the top of the muzzle as a platform to jump higher – and closer to his friends.

Fortunatelly they were aware they weren't useful as they were, Silena hidden between two walls and Annabeth doing her best to guard her from any monsters that took advantage of the situation.

"Here you go!" he said, dropping the weapons in the girls' feet and leaving back to the battle.

IIIII

Annabeth looked down on them, after being sure they were as safe as possible under the conditions.

"A sword and a spear?" she asked, confused.

"Dibs on the sword!"

She turned to Silena, surprised.

"Look," the daughter of Aphrodite said, a bit affronted, "I know my siblings aren't very known for fighting—"

"That's putting it mildly," Annabeth said, and Silena couldn't help but nod.

"But I tried a bit of the spear with Clarisse, and I can say for sure it is _not_ for me. I can't say if I'll be better with it, but I can't be _worse_."

Annabeth nodded. "I admit that I'd like some more distance too."

But then she frowned. "But I don't think we'll be of much use against those… things."

"Yes, but we'll be able to protect the others in case a monster tries to take advantage of it to stab one of them in the back or something."

Annabeth agreed with a nod, grabbing the spear.

She wasn't happy about it, but they'd be the support, there for covering the group.

But as soon as she could she'd try to find a distance weapon suited for her…

IIIII

"What are you looking at?" Luke yelled angrily at the monsters and renegade demigods watching. "Do you want that thing to destroy the ship and take us with it?"

That made them snap to attention. A bunch of giants jumped on the claw-shaped one, holding it in place as much as they could while some draconae and demigods started attacking it.

Beckendorf, taking advantage of the stuck claw, jumped on it and started hitting it with his hammer as hard as he could.

"Tyson!"

Nothing more needed to be said, as the young Cyclops jumped on top of the claw and started punching as hard as he could.

Unfortunatelly most of the attacks bounced on the bones, but they seemed close to cracking.

"Try attacking between the bones!" Naruto yelled. "It is soft, must be what is controlling them!"

Clarisse did so, but on the other head, striking it with her spear between some bones, right on one of the blue spheres, and making it shoot lightning through the dark material.

The snake-like being contorted in pain. And so did the claw, throwing everyone holding it aside easily.

Some were thrown on the water, while others were able to hold onto the railings and tried to lift themselves back into the ship. Only for them to not be able to leave the railings.

It was then that everyone noticed that the dark mist around the boat had the same blue color as the liquid the devoured giant had been hit with.

Scared for his life, one of the giants threw a fireball, the same kind of metal ball covered in fire the ones that attacked Percy's school threw at him, at the claw… And the claw broke.

The snake head trashed violently, and a deep bellow of pain came… from under the sea.

The bone tentacle the claw was once on was pulled back into the sea, but it was too late.

"I can't believe it…" said Luke, approaching the railings – but not touching them. "The sea monster is weak to fire?"

" _That's_ what you take from this?" Clarisse asked, incredulous, while Percy used his shield to protect her of another mucus sphere vomited by the snake head.

"It is just a tentacle covered in bones," the son of Poseidon agreed, "the true body is still under the water. How didn't I notice it before?"

"I felt natural, Percy," Naruto explained. "They were made to use Nature itself to increase their powers. So they must feel like big animals for someone like you that can sense them."

But before they could continue their discussion, the previous tentacle rose from the water, a new bone head on its tip. But this time, the bone seemed like it was poorly sculpted on a piece of rock, with a red hot piece making up its mouth…

Naruto's eyes widened. He fought one of those not long ago – to open the way so the Harth miners could make their ship fly…

A Gravios, a wyvern known for its fire breath…

"Everyone, out of the way!"

It was not as dangerous as the previous laser, that would probably rip the ship right through, but the heat ray charred instantly a line on the deck it hit. The strength of the shot pushed the boat downwards, making everyone on it fall down as it danced dangerously on the waves.

Due to that, Annabeth and Silena were thrown down from their hideout, ending up sprawled on the deck…

…right on sight of the snake-headed tentacle.

"Shit," Naruto let out as he stood up to run.

Surprised, Luke looked that way, and his blood ran cold.

Despite everything he did, he really wanted to help. He really believed his way was the right way. That it would help everyone.

The _last_ think he wanted was to hurt Annabeth. She was like a sister to him!

Yet he knew that as fast as Naruto was the snake head would reach the two before him.

He could thing of only one person, one _being_ , that would be fast enough to save them.

And he was his demigod.

'Alright, _father_ ,' he thought with as much anger as he could muster, 'if I got anything from you but my ability to open locks, now is the time to show it.'

He pushed his divine energy, the same energy he pushed on locks to open them, on his legs, as much as he could, so much he felt like they would explode… and then he let them.

One second Naruto was running as fast as he could to save the two girls.

The next, he was being overtaken by a blur.

And then the snake head hit the ground, but there was nothing else there anymore.

Luke ended up sprawled on the ground having slid all the way from where the girls were… with Annabeth pulled by one arm and Silena from the other.

But the head was going back at them, and this time his legs felt like mush.

The snake head stroke.

But this time, Annabeth was ready.

The spear went through the mouth, piercing the tentacle. Taking advantage of it, Silena jumped on top of the head and started stabbing with the sword until she was thrown off by it jerking violently.

Then Naruto jumped so hard he blew the ground, before hitting the head with his glaive and breaking its jaw off.

"Huff huff… are you alright?"

"My legs hurt… But I can't feel them… How does that work?"

"…Annabeth? Silena?"

"Oh, I see how it is!"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the save, you're still an enemy. And an asshole."

IIIII

Tyson was using his body to protect Percy, Clarisse and Beckendorf from the flames of the Gravios head. The other monsters were mostly running around, trying to escape the flames.

Not all of them were successful.

"Hey, why are you here?" Percy asked, confused. "Isn't your father the god of fire? Aren't you supposed to be immune to it?"

"Not in a hundred years," Beckendorf replied seriously.

"Ok, ok, no need to be angry."

"No, I mean none of us got this ability in a hundred years."

"Ah."

"Alright," Clarisse interrupted, "I got a plan."

The two male demigods looked at her.

"We know it is weak to fire and electricity. _But_ it can shoot fire right now, so probably got the fire weakness covered.  
So we need electricity to hurt it."

"And you got an electric spear," Percy nodded, understanding her…

"Wait, that's no plan. That just says your spear can hurt him more than other weapons. What about getting close enough to use it without turning into barbecue?"

"You are the son of the god of fire and the one that can control water while we are in the middle of the sea. Why do _I_ have to think of everything?"

Percy and Beckendorf looked at each other.

"She got a point."

"I know…" Percy agreed with a sigh.

"But I do not think we can just use water to block the heat. It charred the wood instantly, and probably went a bit under it too. It would need to be _really_ compressed or else the blast would cut right through… more than I think Percy could do."

"…So I won't block it," Percy said, eyes widening. "Tyson, can you cover us just a bit more?"

"Getting hot, but still good."

"Great," Percy nodded. "Clarisse, when I tell you, go as fast as you can."

He then closed his eyes.

This was going to be the bigger use of his water control abilities he ever did. And worse, it wouldn't be of any use besides a distraction… But a big distraction is what he needed.

He concentrated. Tried to remember the story Naruto told him. Tried to remember the description of the technique.

Suiryudan.

…Ok, he had no idea why a dragon shape would be useful for an attack, but from what he gathered ninja techniques were weird. Against a giant snake like this, a giant snake-like dragon was the perfect distraction.

The water dragon rose, and tried to wrap itself around the fire-breathing bone-covered tentacle. As Percy hoped, the thing was distracted by the water dragon, and tried to attack it.

As it was just a shape, it was tiring but Percy could keep "healing" it when it was destroyed.

"Now Clarisse!"

The girl wasted no time, jumping over Tyson and running with her whole strength, right before jumping and stabbing the tentacle right in the middle of one of its blue spheres.

Another roar of pain was heard from under the ship.

The blue spheres turned red.

Both tentacles retreated.

"Not good," said Naruto.

The tentacles rose from further away, in the middle of the water.

They were still red, once more with snake-like skulls… and red energy was once more charging on their mouths.

"Percy," Naruto said seriously. "I _really_ need you to raise me some water platforms."

"But—"

"Now Percy! Before they are done!"

"But it'll not be able to hold—"

"Trust me!"

Percy sighed. He felt like he had run for miles, and this would probably feel like even more, but he had no choice.

Using every ounce of energy he still had, Percy made some of the water rise in small pillars. But, as he was trying to tell Naruto it wouldn't be able to hold a person, it had even less tension than usual water…

Which was why he was so surprised Naruto was able to use them as footholds to jump anyway.

"Bastard can walk on water… _I_ can't walk on water…"

Naruto, on his hand, was running dangerously low on chakra. As much as he could make a bunch of clones no problem, breaking that many illusions earlier really took a toll on him, and with his control, as much better as it got, this whole battle had been a _real_ pain.

But he had enough for this. Getting close enough, he made two pairs of clones, who used him as a foothold and jumped to attack the heads with a Rasengan each He _could_ do them alone now, but with a clone helping it went much easier and faster… something that he desperately needed right now.

The rasengans hit the heads right before they fired, making the energy destabilize and the heads explode in spheres of red energy, taking the clones with them.

The original Naruto stood on the water, breathing heavily. He hoped that had been enough to drive the monster away—

Another yell from underwater, this time much louder and angrier, and something like an island made of bones rose from the water…

Then the part faced him opened like a four-sided blue sea star with yellow eyes on top and a big mouth in the middle.

And it was charging a laser again. Bigger, with more energy than the other two heads put together. If it hit… no one would survive.

He took a deep breath. He had no choice.

At least the others would have a chance to survive.

"Everyone," he yelled with all the force in his lungs, "Go to the life boats! Now!"

He did not wait for them to do as he said. He pulled something from his jacket, something that looked like a porcelain mask, and put it on his face.

Luke looked on his way to the lifeboats. The sharingan on his face registered as the mask was flooded by Naruto's chakra.

Naruto poured everything he still had. He had no choice, he was running out so every drop was important if he wanted the others to survive.

"Uzumaki-Ryu: Konbi Henge: Kami."

And Uzumaki Naruto was no morw.

His hair turned black and grew wild, kept afloat by a wind much stronger than the current one that only seemed to affect him.

The mask disappeared, marks appearing on his face around his eyes and mouth.

His clothes' colors changed, the orange turning sea-green while the blue turned orange.

And on his waist there was a sword.

No, not a sword.

The allegory of one.

For that sword was not Susanoo's anymore, but had been given away. But it was the one he was linked to. The one everyone thought of when they thought of him holding a blade.

It was a copy. A fake. But on the hands of Susanoo it was good enough to use the technique named after the original name of its true counterpart.

The beast fired.

Susanoo drew his sword.

"Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi"

The straight, two-sided sword cut the energy beam in two, avoiding the ship by a hair's breath, one of them cutting through a hill on the side. The waves it created pushed the ship to the skies and to the side of a mountain with a cave, the yellow boats on it being thrown out and past the whirlpool by the force of the impact, taking the passengers through the entrance of the Sea of Monsters and protecting them from the gatekeeping monsters.

Susanoo, kami of the storms and sea, let himself give a satisfied smile before his body shut down.

IIIII

Artemis felt a cold feeling. She was planning on telling her hunters her plans about Naruto tonight, but the mere thought of his name just now filled her with worry.

She tried pushing it aside, he could take care of himself… But she couldn't.

IIIII

The group of Suna nin... The _surviving_ group of Suna nin bowed to the new Kazekage.

"Let me get this straight. The closer you get to the ruins you found, the more you feel your chakra being blocked. Even puppets need to be retrieved after some distance. Even so, you decided to try to enter it.

That's when the group was attacked by these… black giant reptiles."

"Yes sir. It burrows in the ground, so we did not notice it."

Gaara nodded. "Yet when one of you ventured by themselves earlier to recover the puppet they were not attacked, so you thought they only attacked because you went into the area as a group… as opposed to them just not having reached you before then… so one of you entered by themselves on a gamble."

The shinobi nodded silently. When he put it that way…

"But nevertheless, it seemed to have worked.

Until the red flying lizard caught and devoured the invading nin and flew away accompanied by a green one."

"Yes, sir…"

The redhead rubbed his face in frustration.

He would need at least a whole squad to get rid of each black giant… as proven by the one they were able to lure out of the chakra-dampening field. And they had no idea how many were there, only that there were at least five.

Then, there was the whole chakra dampening, estimated to nullify all non-vital chakra not far from its start.

Of course, they could just go one at a time to avoid their attention… and to be caught like rabbits by birds of prey since they would be without acess to chakra.

"I'll need to think about this. Thank you for the information. And… I'm sorry for the losses. I understand it must be hard to think properly under such circumstances."

IIIII

The Diablos ate some cacti that grew around the ruined town. It did not care for much.

It _did_ care when something snatched it from the ground and lifted it with barely some loss of speed, though.

The travel was as short-lived as it was surprising. One second it was eating, the next it was ascending, before he could register it he was falling.

The Rathalos and the Rathian did not care for much either. They were rarely awake, their mission guarding the town's treasure. They still had a few scars from the last big hurdle (as far as a lone invader could be considered one, they did have to work a bit on him), one of the Rathalos' wings lacking it's spike and most of the Rathian's forehead scales were broken, but they'd eventually heal. The town was blessed by the ancient Dragonians after all, and it would heal them itself given enough time.

But again, a Diablos falling on top of them at high speed was not something any of the three involved expected.

IIIII

Tantalus woke up, raising his arms over his head. He had as close to a nice day as he could the previous one, most of the bad blood on the camp having left. Now all he had to do was get rid of Platoon, the kid gave him the chills.

It was just then that he found out he couldn't put his legs to the ground.

And there was a smell around the room, smelt like…

Honey?

His eyes widened as the sun entered, showing the room. The room with a weird tint, as if covered in a thin layer of a viscous amber liquid…

There were also ants, eating the honey covering the walls and floor and even all the furniture but the bed.

In his scream of impotent rage, he failed to notice the red eyes looking at him from the window.

IIIII

Black Zetsu cursed. The two groups had been separated before Tobi arrived.

But nevermind. That meant that now they knew where the Kyubi holder was. Now, would it be worthy to take him right now while he is alone and unprotected? They'd have to keep it alive and locked until they got enough tailed beasts the statue could absorb it without consequences though, and that meant more time for an escape or rescue…

IIIII

Naruto floated in the water, back to his normal appearance save for the mask on his face.

A pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him into the boat.

Luke Castellan observed his new rescue. He was breathing, barely. His body was cold. Even his pulse was weak.

The only reason he found him was because of the thin layer of silver energy that covered him. And it seemed that it barely protected the boy enough.

The boy that he was sure will be one of the biggest challenges to his side's victory, even though the fact he isn't a son of the Big Three means he isn't the Prophesized one.

So, now… what to do?

IIIII

The three women were chanting.

In front of them, a thick thread. A thread bigger than even the one of a god.

Not many knew that gods _can_ die, just not by literal death. They… fade. Like Helios, former titan of the sun, and Selene, former titaness of the moon.

In front of them, the liquid in the bowl formed images and words, images and words that only one god could see, and only the words he could ever proclaims to anyone else.

"… _For if the source and the link turn into one being_

 _The three worlds shall be consumed by the dream."_

In the liquid, the red sphere with a black center had the three tomoes surrounding it start spinning at high speed, disappearing into the redness that slowly and irregularly turned blue, until the image resembled nothing more than a flame frozen in time.

Apollo could only gasp as one of the women approached the scissor to cut the thread, only to let his breath out in relief as she stopped… for now.

The world itself was now living on borrowed time.

IIIII

In another world, an old toad breathed out, the words forever imprinted in his mind.

But other words. Different. But linked, like two pieces of the same puzzle.

"So… the Child of Light shall be born out of Darkness… It takes the place of my old prophecy, but parts of it are still valid yet maybe not… I wonder…"

The toad released a deep sigh.

"Nevertheless, the one mentioned in my old prophecy will still be important. I wonder… will he be the Child of Light…

…or it's source?"

IIIII

Prophecies collided.

And the result could be the end of three worlds.

IIIII

 **I told you there was going to be a fourth member of the crossover.**

 **For those that know enough Chrono Trigger lore, especially Chrono Cross, some words of this ending will have given you a good idea of my plans.**

 **For those who don't, I'll try to explain it slowly in the story.**

 **For those who dislike the tomoes involved in it, I'm sorry but that was the main reason I decided to give Luke a sharingan. There is a reason it is called** _ **space**_ **-time continuum, even if the series focuses mostly on the time side.**

 **On a different note, does anyone know a simple way to say "Moon Sight" in Japanese?.  
Been looking on the wiktionary, been thinking getsushi or tsukimiru since** **月** **(gatsu/getsu/tsuki in Goon/Kan'on/Kun) is moon and** **視** **(ji/shi/miru in same order) is to see (I just don't like the sound of gatsuji). Pending to tsukimiru since it comes from Tsukiyomi.**


	20. Conversations in the Sea

**First, a warning: mixing the villains of the stories was the plan** _ **from the start**_ **. I actually thought it was to be expected, since Naruto had the ability to cross the dimensions with the Palicos and had no reason to abandon one of the worlds to the villain.  
So, for those still complaining about me mixing the villains of the stories, I'm sorry but not sorry. If it is not your cup of tea, I'm sorry but I suggest writing one that is.  
No, seriously. Isn't that what all fanfiction is about, getting a source material as inspiration and twisting and mixing it in the ultimate story **_**you**_ **want it to be? I'd actually be honored to be the inspiration for a story.**

 **Someone asked, and it is a fair question: why the Kusanagi and not his most famous Totsuka, Snake-Slayer of Heaven (Ame no Habakiri)? Because yes, Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi was the original name of the Kusanagi (actually it was only named Kusanagi after leaving Susanoo's hand and thus won't be called that by him, ever).**

 **I chose Ame no Murakumo for two reasons: One, because as much as he defeated Orochi with Snake-Slayer, he became known for the Kusanagi he got from its body. It would be an allegoric sword anyway, since all three of his known swords were either broken and turned into goddesses (his not-as-famous Totsuka) or given away, so it got the appearance of the one most associated with him.  
And two, because if you were going to name a technique for one of the two swords, and were a storm god, what would you call it, "Snake Slayer of Heaven" or "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven"?**

 **Someone else mentioned my foreshadowing was too vague. Save for what the ruins were, you may remember them somewhere else in the fic, most of it was supposed to be. Most of the important parts were prophecies or things hidden from you guys for now after all.  
Unless it is about Tantalus. It was just a clone Naruto left behind to mess with him.**

 **And for those that think Naruto is a bit weak in this story… yes, he is.  
Let's be honest, he is weak in canon at the point the story started too. Ok, he got shadow clones and Rasengan and he sometimes uses henge. His victories were more based in surprising tactics and Kyubi chakra than power.  
Here, he barely ever uses Kyubi chakra, so he is **_**really**_ **skill and tactics dependant. For those who know about TvTropes, I'm trying to base him around the idea of Weak but Skilled.  
Sure, he is still above average, but not that much.**

 **And I'd like to thank Otaku97 for the help with the name of the skill previously known as MoonSight.**

IIIII

"All I'm saying is that if he gets that much weaker when he makes one of you—"

"Annabeth," the Naruto in front of her interrupted. "Boss got _too much_ energy to track already. Seriously, He barely feels it when he makes _dozens_ of us. And everything we don't use goes back to him as soon as we dispel."

"But then, why are you so weak?" Percy asked, confused.

"Ouch…"

"You know what I mean," Percy 'clarified', rolling his eyes. "Why can't you use another clone to send a message to the real Naruto if you can send memories?"

"Well, I said we send the energy that we _don't_ use… We kinda used some energy to run faster, and a lot of energy to dispel so many illusions from the mortals in the ship… each. That kinda adds up. Even Boss got limits. Add to it how much I got thrown around with you guys and I'm lucky I didn't dispel yet. And I don't think I need to tell you guys Boss would be angry at himself if I left you guys alone, even if I'm a bit weakened."

The two demigods nodded in understanding, but the clone frowned while looking at the ocean. Chanelling Susanoo is a tiring thing by itself at the best of times, add to it using the Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi technique on top of that, and on that scale…

IIIII

"Uuuuhg..." Naruto moaned. His whole body was in so much pain...

And weak, so weak… he didn't know if he could open his eyes even if he wanted.

"Hey, are you awake?" A voice asked. It tried to sound casual, but he could feel a bit of worry on it.

"Yeah…" rolled off his mouth lazily, he was _really_ tired. "I feel like I've been rolled over by a Gravios… And like I didn't eat in days…"

He idly pushed away something cold that was scratching his neck.

"What's a Gravios?" the voice asked, and whatever it was returned to his neck, a bit harder even.

Annoying.

"A fire wyvern, looks like a walking lava boulder. I feel both smashed and burned," he tried to push the thing away again, but it soon returned.

"Yeah, as impressive as it was I guess even you'd have trouble cutting that giant laser in half and walking away fine."

"I didn't do it, it was Susanoo— wait, what?"

His eyes opened in surprise, and Naruto came face to face with an eyepatched Luke Castellan with a sword on one hand and Susanoo's mask on the other.

Oh, and the demigod's sword was on his neck.

But Naruto's first question made Luke raise an eyebrow.

"How am I alive?"

"How are any of us alive?" Luke countered. "That blast you cut pierced through a mountain!"

Naruto looked to the sky, watching the full moon. Huh, the battle had been early in the morning and it was already almost midnight.

The sword being pushed a bit harder on his neck trying to get his attention reminded him of Luke. …Why not, it's not like he could do much with the information. The mask he had was more of a summoned copy anyways so it wouldn't matter if he destroyed it.

"My family on my mother's side… we can channel the Shinto Kami we are linked to through blessed masks or chants. Chants let us call a small blessing from their power, and the mask can let them possess us for a bit. But both take some chakra, the more powerful the effect the more chakra it takes.  
I am linked to Susanoo, but thanks to Artemis I can also channel a bit of Tsukiyomi since they are both related to the moon. My mom was linked to Shinigami, the Shinto version of Thanatos."

"And Susanoo?"

"The kami of Storms. And a bit of the Sea. Like a bit of Zeus and Poseidon, but he is not the ruler of the skies and is not the main one to command the seas. But he is known the most for the time he was turned into a mortal as punishment and ended up defeating a giant snake with eight heads.

Anyway, he got a sword while mortal that he later gave to his sister that was supposed to be able to control the wind. It was the only think I could think about. I didn't know the chant so I had to use the mask so he could use it.

My turn. How am _I_ alive?"

Luke blinked at that. "I have a sword to your neck and you seem to barely be able to move. What do you mean 'your turn'?"

Naruto shrugged. He raised a good point, but if the only reason he kept him alive was for information then he would be _really_ disappointed. If there was one thing Naruto was good at is being stubborn.

Luke sighed. Not like there was much reason not to answer.

"I saw you floating on the ocean. You had some bit of silver energy surrounding you, healing a bit your burns."

Naruto got surprised at that. "Silver? Not red? Are you sure?"

Luke nodded. "Why the surprise? Artemis is known for her silver energy after all."

"I poured everything in the mask to be able to cut that laser. _Everything_ , be it my yellow chakra that I use for everything or the silver that I usually only use for summoning and emergencies. I… kinda should have died after using so much energy."

"And the red?"

"I'm sort of a prison for something. I never met it myself, and as far as I know I only used its power twice, maybe three times, and I have no idea how to. But to tell the truth I've no idea why it would try to save me."

Luke just looked at Naruto, thinking about what he had been told.

"…wait, how does using all of your spiritual energy ends up dying?"

Naruto looked a bit confused at Luke, then his mouth opened.

"Oh, no. I use chakra. It is a mix of both spiritual _and physical_ energy. So when I used so much energy my body should have shut down."

"I see. And you used too much of your physical. That's why you can't even move."

Naruto nodded. Luke frowned at that. Sure, he felt tired while training with the sharingan, but he had no idea it was because of _that_ , that guy had not told him anything about chakra really but its origins, and that's to explain about the eye.

…Wait.

"So, you can use chakra from both your mortal and divine sides, right?"

"Yeah. They work a bit different though."

"And you used up all your _physical_ energy?"

"Yeah?"

"But not the divine energy you got from Artemis? You know, the one you use to use your divine powers?"

"…I use it to what now?"

Luke just looked at him incredulous.

"Ok, I'm pretty good as a Hunter, but as far as I know I got no powers from Artemis besides some extra talent on that, _if_ I got it from her. My other parents were also badass."

Luke was going to say something, but gave up and sat down. He himself only found out about his speed and his legs were still weak, all he ever tried using his powers on was opening locks until now.

"Wait, do you mean that the spiritual energy I got from Temie somehow turned into enough physical to keep me alive?"

Luke nodded. "Well, it _is_ divine."

He then sighed. "But I guess that means there is no way for me to convince you to join me, is there?"

Naruto looked at look, confused. The older boy wasn't pointing his sword at him, barely seemed to mind about being enemies right now. His weak state was the perfect chance he had to kill him.

Well, if he wanted to talk, then they would talk.

"I wouldn't join your side anyway. Not just for loyalty to Temie, but because… well, you are kinda trying to put Kronos in their place."

Luke looked at him, confused. "Wait, your problem is Kronos? How could he be much worse than we are now?"

"How could he _not_ be?" Naruto countered. "I know the stories were written by the victors, but everyone knows Kronos was so power-hungry he betrayed his father for power and when he had children himself he ate them to avoid the same happening to him. The guy is a tyrant. The gods may be assholes sometimes, and I even include Temie in this, but they have a hands-off approach most of the time, letting mortals live however they want nowadays."

"And that is the problem," Luke countered. "The mortals are destroying the world, the monsters are multiplying, the demigods are abandoned and the gods are free to do whatever they want and not care for the consequences."

"The mortals are free to learn their lessons for good or bad, the monsters are only really a danger to those of a kind of divine nature. I give you the point about the demigods, but the truth is we are a minority, a drop in the bucket. And we are a very powerful corant, with the power to change the whole bucket if we wanted. Wasn't there a war about what happens when demigods try to use mortals?  
Not like we _need_ their help anyway. I was doing well before meeting Temie, even if I am happy I did. The biggest danger to demigods, the fact they attract monsters, was created by _another_ demigod. Sure, they should take responsibility for their children, but they also give them lots of freedom, also for good or bad. Really, take away the title of Hero and Camp Half-Blood is more of a safe place where they are trained to survive against something _another one of them_ did."

Luke's eyes widened. He didn't know about the scent being caused by a demigod. _But_!

"What about the gods being too free?"

"Ah, that one I agree with you," Naruto nodded. "I mean, even if nowadays they are mostly just having children left and right, Temie is kind of the exception not because she isn't but because she is actually doing something useful for everyone by killing monsters, they are mostly free from any responsability. I think punishing Ares was more a show for those that thought of going against Zeus than an actual punishment.

But giving control to Kronos won't affect only them, but everyone else too."

"And what should I do then? Just accept it as it is? It's not like I could just waltz there and take the throne for myself, Kronos is the only chance we had of a change!"

"But not a positive change, and that is important," Naruto replied. "Funny thing is, you had all the chances to _be_ the one to cause change last year after the Winter Solstice. Now we won't get that chance again for a **long** time."

Luke thought about what Naruto said. "Do you mean when I had the Master Bolt and Helm of Darkness? Wouldn't work. I mean, even if Ares hadn't got them from me I'm just a demigod. I will die eventually and then what"

"Oh yes," Naruto agreed. "You are a mortal, even if not the kind of mortal we call mortal. A mortal that decided that the best way to escape Ares after stealing the Helm of Darkness was by trying to outfight him instead of putting it on and running away. That was when the chance was lost, though, not by you being born mortal."

"Yeah, yeah, it was stupid," Luke agreed, his face reddening. "But what do you mean the chance was lost then and not by being mortal? I mean, it's not like I can just become immortal!"

"Really?" Naruto blinked, surprised. "Oh, nevermind then, I thought your failed quest had been to steal an apple that gave people immortality."

This time, it was Luke that blinked. "It… was… well… yeah…"

Naruto nodded. "Well, then whatever stopped you, would you be able to get through if you still had the Helm of Darkness?"

"I'd say so," Luke agreed grudgingly. "But I'd need more than that to take over Olympus."

"Helm for defense, Master Bolt for offense. Use the Helm to not be hit, position yourself far from them enough, fire the Bolt. Basic tactics, but I'd have trouble thinking of a way of stopping it," Naruto said. "But again, one of the gods there is Athena, so…" he shrugged.

Luke's jaw dropped. "For how long have you been thinking about this?"

"Uh? I just thought it. I'm good making plans on the spot."

"Could have fooled me."

Naruto snorted. "Aren't the Stolls your brothers? I heard they are pranksters too. Being a prankster is more than just pull someone's chair, a good prank needs proper planning, to do it, to not get caught, to not cause damage to anyone you don't want to, and to be able to fix things easily if you _do_ get caught. And since most of the time I did it to get attention, that was a good chunk of the time."

Luke was taken aback. He never thought much of the pranks his siblings did, but that did seem to need more than just impulsiveness.

"Back to the god domination plan… Too late to think about it though, now that they have them back they'll probably be watching them like hawks for a couple centuries until a new chance happens—AH!"

Naruto's body twisted as if he was wracked with pain, his teeth gritted.

Luke was quickly by his side, sword forgotten.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Hungry…" was the answer.

Luke promptly dropped Naruto.

"Seriously? I thought you were dying or something, you prick!" he said angrily.

Naruto looked back as if he was stupid.

"I have so few physical energy remaining I can barely move, I'm pretty sure both that small bit and the reason I can talk is your theory on divine energy, and my body is trying to get some extra bit of energy by consuming food that isn't there, even if it takes eating itself. I _am_ dying."

Luke sighed while shaking his head. "I have some candies in my pocket, but that's it."

"Sugar or diet?"

"Sugar," Luke replied, a bit offended. He had no idea why Dionysius liked diet food so much, but he considered himself fit enough, thank you very much.

"Good, every little bit helps."

Luke dropped some candies in Naruto's open mouth… and the boy swallowed them whole!

"Oi! Those are candies, not pills!"

"Too hungry to taste them. I'm kind of dying from lack of energy, remember? Without anything I'm as good help as a talking potato."

The older boy still looked a bit annoyed, but Naruto could finally move his limbs a bit, even if he finally had enough energy to properly feel like his body was one enormous bruise.

But still, painfully and slowly, he was able to sit up.

"So, what are we gonna do? You're not as bad as me, but since it's night and everything happened in the morning you must be hungry too."

"What _can_ we do?" Luke replied. "We are in the middle of the Sea of Monsters and the only thing I saw since the boat fell from the flying ship is the place where Scylla and Charybdis are, and judging by their positions we are already past them," he said, pointing to the tip of Scylla's mountain in the distance.

"There is an island that way," Naruto pointed.

Luke looked in that direction… "Huh. You have a good eye."

"I'm trained in noticing details," Naruto answered. "Not that I'm very good at it, I _was_ the worse on my class…"

Luke shrugged. "Hey could you help me here?"

"I'll try," Naruto answered, "but you know I wasn't that good at canoeing."

But they didn't do too bad. Despite them rowing with their hands, and how tired Naruto was, they were making progress on the way to the island, Luke being able to see it without the Sharingan already.

"So… what will you do now?" Naruto asked.

"Not much changes," Luke said. "While you have a point about Kronos being a control freak, I personally believe the world _needs_ someone with a firm hand to control it."

Naruto sighed. They'd have to agree to disagree for now.

"So… will you be trying to kill me?"

Luke didn't talk for a bit.

"I'm… not sure. I mean, I did save you despite knowing you'll be a thorn on our side. Hell, I'm pretty sure you'd have cracked my forehead in the ship if the table was harder than it.  
On the other hand, you are aware that my plan needs your group to succeed anyway."

Naruto nodded. "Your goal is the Golden Fleece. And Percy told us that you think death would be better to Thalia than being a tree, so it's not like you had much to lose. I mean, we do it, you try to steal the Fleece from us, we fail she is freed."

"He told you guys that, uh…" Luke said, pensative. "I think I said something like this that time… I was going to try to recruit him, but he is too loyal to his father and I sorta lost my cool."

"Speaking like that, you make it sound like I'm not loyal to Temie."

Luke shook his head. "You are loyal to Artemis because you consider her a friend at least. You can see the other gods as an outsider force though. Percy… he never even met the guy. His loyalty is blind. …As is the one of most of camp."

They kept rowing silently for a bit.

"Why do you want the fleece anyway?"

"Well, one reason is that it will help Kronos recover faster," Luke replied. "The other…"

He sighed, which made Naruto stop rowing and look at him.

"It is a long shot. But if it works… If it can heal her…"

Luke stopped rowing too.

"They never even tried anything to free her. No one even _thought_ about freeing her. But the fleece… it just might.  
Kronos may have his reasons to win either way if you find the fleece or not, but I win either way if you _keep_ the fleece or not."

"Do you think he will like you freeing her?" Naruto asked, confused.

Luke smirked back. "Me freeing and recruiting her _is_ a part of the plan."

Naruto tsk'd. "And you think she will join you?"

"She should. Being a demigoddess left to fend for herself for years gave her no love for the gods, and now that she has been a tree for years…"

Naruto… nodded. He had a point, he doubted he would see them with good eyes after all of that.

 _But again, isn't that the same way you are treated by the village?  
Useful. Yes undesired. A weapon. Yet ignored, everyone pushed away from you.  
Yet you still want to be Hokage.  
…Why again? For respect you have to fight for? Because a handful of the whole village treated you well, and even less before you proved through hardship you were worthy of being treated as better than dirt?_

Luke noticed Naruto's eyes turning red as the boy was quiet, but decided not to say anything.

Naruto sighed, his eyes turning blue again. Luke looked at the sky.

Nevermind what Thalia chose.

Luke believed that the world needed a heavy hand to keep it going properly. Naruto agreed, being raised in a military dictatorship, but believed that said heavy hand was not the best one and would be worse overall than the current gods presiding over it, as imperfect as they were.

Conflicting ideas, but both believed they were in the right. It all depended on how bad Kronos would be as the leader of the world, and the only way to find out was with a gamble Naruto did not want the world to take but Luke did.

Both wanted what was best, but their way were opposites.

They started rowing with their arms again. Neither aware that the other knew that if she died Luke's eye would also transform and get stronger… and neither wanting that to happen.

IIIII

"Are you _sure_ you are alright?"

"Yes, Clarisse. I'm sure," answered the Naruto on the boat of the Golden Fleece Retrieval team... plus him and Tyson.

"Well, she got a point. Your complexion is not good right now," contested Silena. "I mean, you are quite pale, and breathing too heavy. And your eyes look a bit glazed too. Not a medic, but I'd say you're either with a concussion, or bleeding a lot."

The Naruto rolled his eyes. Give it to a daughter of Aphrodite to be able to make a guess of his health through describing how he looks.

"More like the last one. I already said, I'm not a real person. I'm a clone made of energy, and I'm running out of fuel. There is nothing you can do to help."

"Maybe some ambrosia?" offered Beckendorf. "It may be enough fuel to keep you steady at least until you find the original."

"And what if it doesn't work?" Naruto countered. "You'd lose ambrosia for when you really need it!"

"And what if it does and we don't try, and you can't fight well if we need you?" Clarisse countered.

Naruto grumbled a bit, but got no answer to that. He ate a small bite of Ambrosia, and just as Beckendorf predicted it gave him more energy.

"Alright!" the Naruto clone said, smiling. The surge of energy was more natural even than a hunter potion, not giving him the reflexive shiver and pause the medicine usually gave. "You were right! This worked!"

The Naruto adjusted the bow and quiver in his back, and went to help Beckendorf and Tyson to row.

"Nah, we'll take their place when they tire," Clarisse said, stopping him. "Shouldn't you make another clone to give a message to the other Narutos, Prissy and Owl Head that we are with you?"

Naruto nodded and went to do just that… when he felt his chakra diminish a bit.

And keep going down.

'What the… wait, I remember this. It was just like when I was in the desert ruins!'

"The others will have to wait! Everyone, that island is trouble!"

"This whole place is trouble," Clarisse answered, but prepared her lance and shield.

"Yeah, but last time a place blocked my chakra in it was a lost city in the desert near Las Vegas. And it had a pair of wyverns."

Everyone frowned, but had not much more to say. Not like they had enough food or a map to take them somewhere else.

They got out of the boat at the beach, weapons ready.

"Found a sign," pointed Tyson, drawing everyone's attention to it.

It was a very old wooden sign, with the letters burned in it.

"Great, Latin," Clarisse moaned.

"I think French came from it… I'll try to make some sense of it," said Silena. As a daughter of Aphrodite, she got a gift for French already.

Naruto looked at the sign, saw the second line… and started rubbing his forehead.

"Well, the first line is the name of the place. 'Opassa Beach'. The next line, 'Angelus Errare', is something like 'Angel Error' or 'Error of Angel'. The third line and fourth ones are a bit harder."

"Uhm, I got a translator in me," Naruto said. "It's how I speak English. It got no language set, but it draws energy from me for the harder ones. I know what it says."

Silena looked at him, an irritated look on her face. "Well, tell us earlier next time."

"Sorry, it gives me a headache when what I read is too badly worded."

"Badly worded?" she asked, confused.

"Well, as you said, the first line is the name of the beach. The second line is closer to the meaning of the third, but a pretty bad symbolism to shorten it in two words to use as a name. It is closer to 'Angel lost' than 'Angel error'.

The third line is written ok. I have no idea what it _means_ though."

"Alright… and what does it say?" asked Clarisse, impatient.

"Well, I have no idea what it means, but…

 _Opassa Beach_

 _Angelus Errare_

 _Where Angels Lose Their Way_

 _Be careful about dimensional gates_."

No one had anything to say for a bit.

"Did you say 'dimensional gates'?" Clarisse finaly asked.

"Yup. Here, see? 'Ostia Dimensiva', dimensional gates."

IIIII

Shukaku's sand worked still. Whatever blocked chakra, it was not enough to stop the Tailed Beasts.

Not that it was needed. As expected, the black creatures did not attack when one person entered the village alone. And for some reason the other dragon that was reported was not there to be seen.

He kept walking, on his way to the tower in the middle of the ruined village.

As he approached though, he noticed something. The tower… a large chunk of the wall seemed to be broken recently. And some parts of its top seemed to have been covered with a red fluid dripping from its top.

Gaara had a good idea of what it was already, but used a sand platform to rise there anyway.

"Hmm…" he raised an eyebrow.

There were the corpses of two of the dragon-like lizards, one red and one green. They looked a lot alike, but still different. There was also something that fit the description of the black creatures, a mix of a big lizard and bull covered in a black hide, with two enormous tusks.

All three seemed to be dead. And from Gaara's experience, it seemed like the black creature was thrown at extreme speed at the red and green ones, and something else just as deadly killed them while they were distracted.

That… did not fill him with warm feelings.

The door to go down the stairs seemed like something big busted through it. Judging by the size of the stairs' steps and the passage it seemed made for something the size of the dragons, so it really surprised him.

He went down nonetheless.

The rooms looked empty, or everything in them seemed to already have been overtaken by time. All the levels but the ground one seemed like filled with rooms, mostly with remants of beds, like a military base.

The ground floor, though, despite looking just the same, had something different in its middle.

Something big and strong broke the ground, revealing a shaft downstairs made of pure metal and glass lamps. Gaara didn't hesitate, and made a sand platform to take him down it.

It was deep. Gaara couldn't help but be unnerved by the depth, he couldn't think of many things that would need so much earth between them and the surface unless the facility was dealing with some kind of dangerous, probably explosive material.

He ended up inside a chamber filled with computers, all screens showing the same image.

In the middle of the chamber, a giant broken glass sphere, with dozens of thick cables linked. It seemed to have been punched and not exploded, since the pieces were on the inside.

Most of the screens showed the sphere, but had a warning message pointing to something that should be in there. He could not read the language, so he took a picture to find someone that could later, but since the sphere was broken he imagined the message was about whatever it was missing.

The other few screens with other messages held an image that was probably what was missing.

An orange stone, shaped like a flame. And, judging by the blur surrounding it, radiating power.

IIIII

 **I was going to** _ **not**_ **add the Kage Bunshins, but then we'd have three support characters having an adventure and the main character being clueless of what they will find. Because this island is the whole point of Naruto joining the book.**

 **For those who know what the name means… no, the group is not going to go in-depth in that world(s). More info to come, but I already alluded that MH happens in a fourth version of that reality where the two sides warred for longer.**

 **Of course, I had other plans, Naruto and Luke getting to that island instead.  
But then… the new team would end up just following the book despite the new changes? Nah.**

 **Also, yes, the Diablos…es guarding the ruins were** _ **Black**_ **Diablos. Many of them.  
For those not in the known, a Diablos is a Monster that, in 4U, is only met in the highest difficulty (G-Rank). A Black Diablos is the upgraded version (well, technically a female-only subspecies).  
If you recall, the ruins are supposed to be the resting place of a king and queen (the Rathalos and Rathian) and guarded by black giants (the Black Diablos group). The fact the BD only attack when people come as a group is a nod to the fact they are usually exclusive to multiplayer.**


	21. War Excursions

Opassa beach gave Naruto a weird feeling, like as if the ground was just waiting for an excuse to gobble him, but that was it. As far as anyone else could tell, it was just a small, _beautiful_ beach, linked to the rest of the main island by a passage that seemed to be sand deposited over a coral reef.

Passing that, though, was a small wood of tropical plants and corals filled with…

"Dinosaurs?" Clarisse asked as she bashed one of them away with her shield. "Seriously?"

"They are pretty, though. Well, for lizards," commented Silena, cutting one open with the sword she borrowed from Percy in the ship. "Their feathers are such a shiny green… I'm not sure I like the red heads though."

"Yeah, and since when do dinosaurs have feathers?" countered the daughter of Ares.

Beckendorf and Tyson wasted no breath, punching and hitting with their tools those lizards that got too close for comfort.

"Well, they aren't much, really… they seem like Jaggis with strong legs," said Naruto, not seeing much of a challenge yet as he hit the ones going for him away with an arrow. The secret of the normal Jaggis were outnumbering and tiring the victims with their bites, but being (most of them) humans and thus descendants of persistence hunters the tactic was not as effective. Could be a dangerous distraction when desling with a Great one and the others were around, but not much by themselves yet.  
And these small monsters, Maccaos if Naruto remembered well what he read once, were just like the Jaggis, but using their strong tails to hold them standing while trying to hit with their legs instead of biting.

"Uzumaki, you are the one who knows how these things fight. How do we make them stop coming?" Clarisse asked, running out of patience.

"I don't usually bother much with these small things anymore," he replied. "Just kill the ones that get near, they should leave us alone for some time after losing some numbers. …Or get the big one."

"The big one?"

"Like an Alpha Wolf," Beckendorf clarified.

Naruto nodded. "The ones who are born to lead grow much larger than the other ones, and have something different in their heads. They are called 'Great' when talking about Theropod Bird Wyverns, though."

"Therop— 'beast-footed'? why the complicated name?" Clarisse asked, irritated. "I can understand the 'bird wyvern' part, but this one…"

Naruto shrugged. "Theropods come from a kind of dinosaur, from what I heard."

"Ah, _that_ makes sense," said Silena. "People love to give dinosaurs these complicated, ugly names in ancient languages…"

"There are two kinds of Bird Wyverns, Flying, that work alone, and Theropod like these, that work in packs."

"Alright, I get it!" Clarisse said, punching her hand in determination. "That means we have to find the big one so the smaller ones can leave us alone!"

" _Or_ , we can climb the trees. I don't think they are able to do it themselves."

"Not all of us are ninjas who train on top of them, Naruto," Silena chided him.

He shrugged. That did not make him any less right.

"So," Clarisse interrupted, "we just need to look for one bigger than the others… how much bigger?"

"Bigger than me, mostly. And chances are it'll have something different either in the head or neck."

Silena whistled. The other ones barely passed his waist, so that was at least double the size.

"Like that one?" Tyson pointed behind Clarisse.

And just like he said, a bigger version of the feathered dinosaurs they were fighting, bigger than most of them and with mane-like yellow feathers around its head was approaching them from behind the girl.

"Guess so," Naruto said. "But I didn't read much about this kind of monster, so I can't be sure."

The other four just _looked_ at him in disbelief.

Yes, even Tyson.

"I did say 'mostly' and 'chances are'."

"But it fits—"

"Shield, twelve!"

Clarisse instantly stopped talking and turned around, blocking the kick from the bigger lizard – and being thrown backwards by it.

"Let's just pretend it is, ok?" Silena said. "What do we do?"

"We kill it!" Naruto answered, jumping back and firing an arrow that sparked with lightning. "Fire should work better, but all I have is a Khezu Bow."

"In English or Greek!" Clarisse complained, trying to pierce the quick lizard.

"It makes my arrows shock like your spear."

The Great Maccao stood on its tail but, instead of kicking Clarisse like she did before it screeched. The five just looked at it confused until it used its tail as a trampoline and jumped forwards, far and fast.

Which meant _hard_.

Clarisse was thrown aside by the impact, being sent to Tyson's chest and making both fall to the ground. Luckily for them, Silena and Beckendorf were out of the way, and Naruto was far enough he wasn't hit.

He _was_ , though, close enough to fire an arrow into the beast's forehead. It yelled in pain, and turned around and tried slamming him with its tail while trying to break the arrow out of its head.

Naruto skipped backwards, avoiding the tail as well as he could.

"Tyson, Beckendorf, aim to the head! Clarisse, Silena, it uses its tail for most things, so try to damage it!"

"And what will _you_ be doing?" Clarisse asked, a bit insulted to be ordered around on _her_ quest.

Naruto just looked at her… while dodging the attacks of the monster that seemed to be focused on him.

"…I got a paralysis coating on the bow. But it can only work on a few arrows, so I'll need to make it count. Distract it for me, then when I put it down we all jump on it and attack as much as we can.  
I'd rather save it for if we meet a stronger monster though…"

"This one seems pretty strong to me," Beckendorf replied as he hit the feathered reptile in the temple, trying to get its attention.

Naruto shrugged. "It is a bit stronger than a Great Jaggi, but still not the strength of even a Drome."

Tyson tried to enter between him and the monster, taking a kick to the chest for his troubles. But Naruto did not waste the distraction. He grabbed some arrows and nocked them.

As soon as the Great Maccao turned to Tyson, Naruto drew the bow, running so he was on the monster's side, before firing. The arrows were released at once, spread, one hitting the middle of the monster while one hit near the neck and another near the tail.

Tyson tried grabbing the monster by the neck and punch it in the face, but the bird wyvern was faster, getting out of his grip and kicking him away.

It then tried standing on its tail to throw itself at Naruto once more.

Silena wasted no time trying to cut near the base of the tail, where it is thinner, while Clarisse jumped on it, trying to pierce it with the spear. The spear slid through the body instead of skewering it, but it did give it a long cut across the side.

It wasted no time trying to stand on its tail once more… only to fall down in pain due to Silena's cut.

Wasting no time, Clarisse pierced its side near the cut, making it yell in pain while trying to stand up. Beckendorf followed suit, hitting the top of its head with his hammer and making it dizzy.

Tyson threw himself on top of the monster, pining it to the ground, allowing Clarisse to give it a coup de grace by piercing its head.

It still moved for a bit, but it was clear it was its last breaths.

As soon as the reflex movements stopped, the five finally breathed easily.

"That was easier than I thought…" admitted Clarisse.

Naruto nodded, approaching the monster with a scroll in hand. "I'm going to seal it, we can try to salvage it later, ok?"

"How does this work?" asked Beckendorf, curious. "Aren't you a clone? Will it disappear if you dispel?"

The Naruto shook his head in negative.

"I'll dispel, but the seal is the same as the original got. So if I seal something it ends up in the same place his seal would take."

"But then why didn't you change your bow for one more useful?" Silena asked, confused.

"We are all able to seal and unseal as if it was the same scroll as the Boss', but that means when we take something off our scroll it goes off from everyone's. If it is something easy like arrows and tags it's ok, but weapons and things like that, he wouldn't have them if he needed.  
This bow in my hand is a copy, it'll dispel as soon as I do, but the one in the scroll is the real deal so only Boss is allowed to take them from there.  
That's why I was made with the bow.

Anyway, I'll try to make something for you guys with the parts I can get from it when we got more time."

Not all of them understood it completely, but they had no reason to deny him the corpse of the monster. Spoils were well and good, but since this one did not turn to golden dust it probably didn't count anyway.

"Another sign," pointed Tyson to Naruto.

The blond read it… and snorted.

"Lizard Rock…"

IIIII

The island seemed to be massive from the top of the trees. There was a ruin of a small village near the south of it, probably a fishing village – and that meant that there may be boats if they survived this long. To the north there was at least one big building visible on top of a hill, but the rising valley was probably hiding something else.

But what drew his attention was a cave near the top of a waterfall a bit to the east of the village. It was like something was drawing him to it…

"Guys, I found a place that _may_ have a boat we could take…"

"Great, we are stuck on 'may'…" Clarisse complained.

"And one I _need_ to go to."

The four others blinked.

"You… 'need' to?" Silena asked, confused. "Just you?"

"Yeah," Naruto confirmed. "It for some reason reminds me of Temie—Artemis. Even if I know she probably was never in this island. I need to figure out why."

"And us?" Beckendorf asked.

"The village is on the way. If there is a boat there, you can just leave me behind."

"I will go with you," Tyson said, seriously.

"Nah, I'm a clone, remember? I'll just dispel after finding out whatever it is, and Boss will know what I do."

"And what if you are attacked before figuring it out?" asked Clarisse.

"Or if it is something you'd like to take with you?" added Beckendorf.

"But… guys, you got to find the Golden Fleece, remember?"

"Right!" Clarisse agreed. "And as Team Leader I say our group is completely lost!"

"That's not something to sound so proud of…"

"And thus I say there is a chance there is _just_ the place we need to go to!"

"A _really_ low chance."

The other four seemed convinced though.

"Alright… But we will at least go to the village first."

IIIII

The village of Arni was, as expected, abandoned for decades – if not centuries. The only reason it was still in one piece was that it was made with some great local hardwood.

They decided to spend the night on a two-stories house near the entrance – and also near the small village pier. There were two small boats there.

And now it was in the morning… and Naruto was getting worried that his Boss didn't send any message.

'Not like I can do much about it though… Not until _after_ leaving the island.'

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the others awakening. No time to worry about the original Naruto right now, they had a cave to explore.

IIIII

"Divine Dragon Falls, uh?" Naruto said aloud, allowing the others to hear the name of the place.

It was a very pretty place on the outside, really. A stone bridge that seemed to be born from the earth itself crossed over the lagoon, making a path to the cave just beside the top of the waterfall. The water seemed clean and crystalline even on the waterfall itself, nevermind the lagoon.

Naruto frowned. For all its beauty, or rather _because_ of its beauty, this island seemed _too perfect_ , as if an artificial nature.

He shook his head and went to the cave, followed by the others.

"Ah, I see what you meant," said Silena as soon as they entered. "It doesn't look like it, but this place feels like hearing a satyr song, or resting on a dryad tree."

"Like Nature itself," Beckendorf explained.

And, true, the place filled Naruto with a sense of peace, despite the walls of the cave being carved in ways that resembled reptilian faces with eyes of yellow flames, some on the walls, others with the mouths open and spewing water like fountains.

"This is weird… all these weird faces in such a peaceful place…" Silena said.

"Yeah right. These faces make me want to smash them."

"Clarisse!"

"Not my fault! It feels like if we were in an enemy temple or something!"

Silena just rubbed the side of her head.

"She isn't wrong," Naruto said, drawing everyone's attention. "If I'm right, these are the faces of Draconians. They were once at war with humanity.  
So this _would_ be for them like a temple, filled with statues of old priests or something."

"So you brought us here, just to see an enemy temple?" Clarisse grumbled. "Next time, bring some owlhead instead."

"No, we didn't come for this," Naruto disagreed, entering the cave deeper, through the shallow water instead of the path.

"Where are you going?" Tyson asked.

"Not sure. Feels like whatever I was feeling from here is leaking somewhere around… here!"

He found a crack on the wall. A crack that felt like it was letting fresh air come inside the cave.

"Tyson, Beckendorf, could you help?"

Tyson did so, and he and Naruto started trying to break the wall near the crack.

Beckendorf, knowing the cave was artificial, looked for a way to open it, a mechanism of some kind.

Of course, he neglected to warn the other two, ending in a pile of a clone and a Cyclops falling inside the newly-opened tunnel.

"Now that's more like it!" said Clarisse.

The five went upwards through the passage, ending up at a broken door. This time they did just push through the passage, though.

And ended up in a _big_ stone courtyard, with a huge tower and what looked like a… fallen room?

Because it seriously seemed like it had fallen from the sky, what with the cracked ground around it, and the way it was tilted instead of straight.

Curious, the group entered the room.

The room was made of a dark material, with statues of dragons around it. On the walls, murals and text, as if telling the story of the world until it was made.

"All life on the planet was born in the sea," Naruto read.

"Oh great, seaweed would be so smug if he was here…" Clarisse complained.

"The life-forms softly slumbered within the womb of our mother sea... Until eventually they developed free will and were able to swim about the ocean freely. Then there came those that, not satisfied with life in the water, looked up from the ocean floor toward the blue skies and dreamt of the feel of the land."

"Will it tell us about the whole thing with evolution and the dinosaurs?" Clarisse sighed.

"Maybe it'll tell us how the dinosaurs ended?" Silena suggested.

"Being children of gods, that kinda loses the impact," countered Beckendorf.

"Aeons passed before their preposterous dream became a reality, and they rose up from the seas onto the earth. The land became full of all kinds of creatures. Among these, the dragon lizards and the more evolved Reptites thought they would reign over the earth forever. And for a long while it seemed that they would..."

The others held their breath. That was the point they really wanted to know about.

"However, the unforeseen coming of the mighty one from the heaves suddenly smashed their kingdom to pieces."

" **What?** " asked the three demigods.

"That one was known as 'Lavos!' The great crimson flame... The timid 'apes' who had lived hidden in the forests came into contact with the crimson flame that fell from the sky and evolved into 'humans'. Or pehaps it was not 'evolution' but 'transformation'. In this way, humans increased in number and filled the Earth... The fearsome 'progeny of Lavos' who, like their progenitor, began to devour or mother planet."

"Wait, so humans are bastards and dinosaurs tried to stop us from destroying the world?" Clarisse grumbled. "But where do the gods enter? Is Lavos Prometheus?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Remember when I mentioned the draconians? Well, I don't remember if I told you guys, but I'm from a different reality. There we don't have greek gods, but the Shinto kami."

The demigods looked at each other, then shrugged. "We found out years ago that gods were real and lived hidden from normal people. Then we found out you can do things other thought impossible. A different reality kinda makes sense with all the different religions," said, surprisingly, Clarisse.

Naruto nodded.

"This seems to be from a third reality I've already been through. The one with the old war between humans and draconians. …Actually, the whole island seems to have come from it, somehow."

"The dimensional gates mentioned in the beach," said Beckendorf. "You think one opened wide enough to carry the whole island here?"

Naruto could only shrug.

Then he thought more… the ruins in the desert, were they the same as this island?

"Well, that's enough of this room for me," said Silena. "Let's just check the tower and go on our way, we can talk more about dimensional travel while on the way to the Golden Fleece, wherever it is."

The other four nodded, and they went to the tower.

And met with an elevator shaft.

With a shrug, they entered it.

"Up or down? There are two downs." Naruto asked.

"Down first," Beckendorf replied. "chances are the important machinery is there."

"Besides, we met the room that was supposed to be up there," added Silena, and Beckendorf nodded.

The first stop… looked like an incubation room.

"A nursery," Naruto said. "Makes sense, if they were born from eggs."

The second basement… _that's_ where they stuck gold.

Computers. Loads and loads of computers.

Of course, all screens said the same message.

"'Frozen Flame removed. Utilizing emergency energy sources'… Wonder what that means?"

Wasting no time, he sat down and pressed a button, and the message disappeared.

Instantly a message of "Unnautorized Entry" appeared instead… but it didn't show them, but a broken elevator and someone that… looked a lot familiar to Naruto…

Ignoring it, there were two other screens with important info. The first claimed to have detected an energy pattern similar to the Frozen Flame… probably the item itself, since the one it had was missing.

Naruto recognized that map. And that location.

"And it is at… somewhere near Heaven's Mount?"

But… why? How was something in the Sea of Monsters linked to somewhere in the Hunting Grounds?

And that screen, with the "unnautorized entry" that seemed so much like Gaara…

…No. It couldn't be.

But it _was_ , Naruto himself was proof of it.

The three worlds…

They were linked – and it was not accidental, or recent.

He took a deep breath to process this.

It changed nothing.

"Alright guys, I think I found all I could. Let's go—oh, what's this?"

"What?" Clarisse asked, already out of her mind with boredom.

"'Alternate Power Source detected'…" he said, pointing at a third screen. "And from the cam I guess this is the Golden Fleece…

Got us a map!"

"Finally! Progress!"

Naruto nodded. As much as what he found out was interesting, it was not what they were there for.

Now! Time to get the camp a Golden Fleece!

IIIII

"Finally found it," said the young man to the image coming from the fountain. "No thanks to Tantalus."

"You know it is a blessing in disguise," the image answered. "While Tantalus did not make things easy, it would be much harder under Chiron's watch."

"I know, I know. I want to mess things up with ol' gramps as soon as possible to pay him back. But the guy is as good at this job as D is invested in his."

"Which is good for us."

"But bad for my kids."

"Chiron trained them for this, Ares. I doubt they'll suffer too much until they heal my daughter's tree."

Elliot snorted. "You seem to give them a lot of credit, father."

"Well, one of them is the son of the Goddess of the Hunt. If he got anything from your sister chances are it must be his ability to find the things he is looking for."

Elliot did not want to, but he had to agree with Zeus on this.

Couldn't help pointing out her flaws though.

"She didn't find your Master Bolt."

"Probably would if _someone_ _who was supposing to be looking too_ didn't hide it with his powers."

Right, time to change the topic. Not so much because of the accusation, but because he'd have to admit he was tricked into it and he did **not** like being tricked – or controlled.

"So, now that I found it… what do I do? Can't get back my powers or else we'll draw attention. And I'm not good enough at being human to do it by myself."

"Yes, that _is_ a problem…" Zeus agreed. "Can't risk it by asking one of the demigods for help."

"I don't think it'd be trouble to keep them quiet about it if I asked the right one. The problem is finding one that can keep quiet _and_ be competent enough."

"Not even your own children?"

Elliot snorted at that.

"I'll deny it, but the only one I'd take with me there is Clarisse, and she is on a quest. Actually, mine or not, like them or not the only ones I'd ask to go are."

Zeus hmm'ed.

"We have some time yet. I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Alright father," Elliot said with a sigh as the call ended.

He started walking back to his cabin, when he heard a sound nearby. It was low, and most people would not even notice it.

On top of a tree was a Naruto, his eyes fading from red to their usual blue. He was sure something had just been done to Tantalus once more…

Then he had an idea.

"Hey, clone," he asked, drawing the clone's attention, "you can do as much as the real Naruto can, right?"

"Uh, yeah?" the Naruto answered, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, I'm kinda weaponless, but besides that I think I'm good. Why?"

"Because I was thinking about inviting you to play a game…"

"What kind of game?" he asked confused.

Elliot's lips widened in a bloodthirsty grin.

"A live-action roguelike."

IIIII

 **I am not proud of how this chapter ended, but I reached the point I wanted with Clarisse's team. Next chapter we will focus on another team, or maybe even both at once…**

 **Also, that is, word for word, the story of the reptites and apes/dragonians and humans that was told in Chrono Cross… save for one line I removed, since in Chrono Trigger/Cross the reptites were destroyed by Lavos falling on them and in this story's Monster Hunter world Lavos "missed" and the two species lived some time together.**

 **For those not in the known, yes, I just made a Naruto clone go to the Labyrinth with a depowered Ares. That means future chapters may come slowly, though, since I'll reread Labyrinth for those scenes.**

 **On the other hand, unlike Lotus where time changes because people are distracted in the Labyrinth time really goes different. So it may take some chapters before we see the next glimpse of Elliot Platoon and Prankster Clone.**

 **Maccaos and Great Maccaos are introduced on Monter Hunter Generations, the game after the one I'm basing the crossover on, thus why Naruto never met them. It is the tutorial Big Monster, thus why it was so easy to defeat even so.**

 **And yes, in the Chrono Cross map the Divine Falls are right in front of Fort Dragonia, but there is no open passage there to get to the fort – the usual passage goes through the Mount Pyre tunnel, and the entrance is only reachable through the ocean.  
I am taking artistic liberties here in making up a second passage that was hidden in the game. Take it as an emergency exit.**


	22. The Witch and the Pirates

**Hello everyone, sorry for taking so long to send this chapter. I had to concentrate on my finals paper and, when I was finished, I lost the rhythm (and some of the more detailed ideas, but I still have the gist of it) for this fic.**

 **That said, while I was out, I noticed something that has the potential to give a BIG change to the story… but contradicts already-estabilished points.**

 **Mainly, that, if having her divine power flowing through Kushina's womb made Naruto partially a demigod of Artemis, wouldn't having being in the womb of Kushina and exposed to Kurama's chakra, something that caused his birthmarks (as seen with the Gold and Silver brothers who got them when consuming Kurama's flesh), made him also one of Kurama/Kaguya (just a reminder that Kurama, despite having his own skills and personality,** _ **is**_ **a part of the Juubi/Kaguya)?**

 **So, I'm thinking of rewriting the story, with more focus on the Monster Hunter cross on the beginning (basically merging Divine Third Hunting with the story instead of having them be separate) since without it the readers have no idea of how Naruto changed so much and he seems overly-competent, at least for me. With those chapters it would probably be made clear that it is a gradual learning and training process (for those wondering the timeline, he defeated the Kecha Wacha shortly before fighting Neji, and fought the Zamtrios right before the Sasuke Retrieval).**

 **Other changes would be the removal of Susanoo and Tsukiyomi, since Tuskiyomi's vision can be replaced by Artemis herself (only it would… you know… be an actual vision), as well as the illusion-breaking (since the light of the moon breaks the illusions of darkness or something like that), and Susanoo despite having powerful abilities with a HUGE drawback when summoned was mostly a way for him to learn Hunter Arts since they are from Generations and Naruto is living 4Ultimate.**

 **But no, despite being the main problem people seem to have with the story, the worlds mixing, villains included, and Luke getting a Sharingan would not change… The worlds being accessible from each other is a huge future plot point, in fact the rewrite will make it** _ **more**_ **blatant. And, despite it looking like just a way to empower Luke, the Sharingan has a dual function of being an important plot point and… ok, I wanted to write a fic with a Sharingan Gunslinger eventually and giving an eye to Luke is a much better option than giving Sasuke a gun, in my opinion, since I can't really like his personality much (his design is eventually alright though).**

 **But! I plan to keep writing both Hunter with a Divine Third and Third Divine Hunting, only slower, at least until the new fic, that I'm thinking of naming "Hunter Nin", reaches them. Which will be quick for TDH, since most of it will be unchanged, but not so much for HwaDT.**

 **And now a quick message about something a guest reviewer pointed out: "Anony Mouse" said that in Greek mythology all heroes were demigods, thus since that is a camp of the gods demigods in the Percy Jackson means hero. That Naruto learning about the language difference would have stopped his problem with the word "hero" being talked left and right on Camp Half-Blood.  
I have three things to counter this argument, though… They are personal opinions though.  
The first is, while it is based on Greek mythology, it happens in modern times, and thus words that changed meanings… changed meanings. If it was just Dyonisius or Chiron talking, it would have been acceptable, but it wasn't, it was also current children.  
The second is, if they were heroes just for being demigods… why are they training to **_**become**_ **heroes, wouldn't they already be?  
And the third… would knowing that something has a different meaning stop you from feeling annoyed by it being said? Naruto didn't go out of his way to make them stop calling themselves heroes, but he did feel annoyed.**

IIIII

Luke massaged Naruto's throat as he let the Energy Drink go down to his stomach.

After all, this is what Naruto said he needed the food for, right? Energy?

They had been unlucky at their location, ending up without any visible fruit for them to eat. Growing impatient, Naruto downed as many candies Luke still had and risked 'unsealing' his supplies.

Now, Luke was far from sure this was what Naruto needed, but at least having _something_ in his stomach would help? The other option was meat, but there was no way the younger boy could chew it at the moment. And he had no idea how to feed it to him even if he chewed himself first anyway, would just massage the throat like he was doing for a liquid work?

He was already in the fifth – and final – bottle, when Naruto finally coughed.

"Ah, I think… that was a bad idea…"

Luke just glared at the words.

"Can you even eat?" he asked the blond, giving him a piece of meat he found.

"Yeah, no worries… well, I'm _strong enough to_ now. ButI feel like I drank my whole stock of energy drinks. I don't think I even need to—"

"I don't care. Meat. Bite. Now!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. All in all, despite being a traitor and trying to kill Percy the previous year, Luke was acting like an ok guy.

Then he felt it. The weight on his stomach, the feeling of the pain spreading through it.

"Ugh… Feels like I drank water before breakfast without having dinner. You know, like your body forgot that it even was hungry until you woke it up to it."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Are you safe now? As much as we are on opposite sides, I'd like to leave the demigod deaths as low as possible. It is not the children I have a problem with…"

Naruto raised his eyebrow. "You know I'm not technically a demigod, right? I mean, demi means half, and I'm a third. I'm closer to a legacy."

Luke shrugged, taking a meat for himself. "Same difference, you are a human with divine blood in your veins. Actually, maybe it is worse for you."

"I'm bad with kanji, not dyslexic. I'm easily distracted if it doesn't catch my interest, but I don't have ADHD. I think I got the better end of the deal."

"You got no powers from your divine parent either, you said it yourself earlier," Luke countered. "Even before finding out about the speed, I had some thieving abilities. And despite having an item to make you understand other languages and another to give your weapons divine energy, you needed to learn battle instincts by _fighting_."

"My summon technique let me call to me a species focused on hunting, and I got a second Shinto patron besides my personal match, even if I can't channel it, just because of my divine heritage."

"…what?"

Naruto looked at him. "Remember I used a technique by channeling Susanoo thanks to my mom's family? And I can use his others through chants too if I know it, but they are weaker? Well, I can't use Tsukiyomi's through anything _but_ chants, but I wasn't _supposed_ to have a second patron.  
And I can summon talking hunter cats by using some chakra to bring them to me. I was going to learn to do it with giant ninja toads, but I used divine energy without knowing and summoned one of them instead.

Well… There is also some skill I got for hunting, but since I wasn't great on my first try like the Apollo kids are at archery, just got some potential I trained at until I got where I am. I'd like to think it isn't that much because of her, just some natural skill, like your swordmanship."

"So… instead of giving you powers and abilities, you got improved versions of skills you already had?" Luke was… impressed. True, at first glance it wasn't as much as a demigod since he had to get those abilities first to use them while a demigod gained abilities from nothing. But from what he could tell Naruto already was as powerful as the strongest demigods when he could use chakra, which would probably not be compatible with divine powers, while this way the skills he got were. Also, who knew where a new skill would appear in the future.

Naruto, however, misinterpreted his comment.

"Oi!" he complained, waving his meat in front of Luke's face. "Ok, so maybe the Palicos can't just smash buildings just by being called on top of them like toads, and I can't use Tsukiyomi's mask, but don't diss them. I saw palicos hunt giant monsters by themselves just as well as humans, and Tsukiyomi taught me to break almost every illusion and even to feel everything in the dark."

"Feel? Not see?" Luke asked, confused.

"Yeah. I can use it with my eyes closed, it is _easier_ to use with my eyes closed. But I can't see colors, just shapes, if I don't use my eyes. And if there isn't much moonlight in the sky, it gets less and less… er… shaped."

"Precise."

"Yeah, that. So, full moon? I can see in total dark in black and white. New moon? You are a human-shaped blob, but at least I know there _is_ a human-shaped blob where you are."

"Uh. I'd expect you to need to be where the moonlight can reach to use it."

"Well, it is a lot more tiring when it can't, but I'm kinda asking the Shinto moon god to lend me his eyes… so while I use it I _am_ a moon."

"How much more is a lot?"

"Under the moonlight I can 'see' the whole night and not even feel it. Out of it, I'd be able to use it for an hour tops before needing to rest."

Then Naruto blinked, and shook his head. What was he doing, doing all this talking about his abilities with an enemy?

Ah right, all this talking calmly, he even forgot all about that. Plus the whole keeping him alive despite being enemies thing.

Also, he may have recovered his physical energy, but without some time to recover the spiritual one he was feeling _really_ light-headed, to the point he'd keep babbling the truth. But, now that he noticed, better to pretend nothing was wrong.

He stood up, resisting the urge to sit down again when the world started spinning.

"Alright, I'm not a hundred percent, but I feel much better already. Let's go look for a way out of this place."

Luke resisted the urge to click his tongue in annoyance. He had no idea why the blond was as forthcoming, but despite not wanting to let him die like that he still knew that he would be a thorn on his side's side and the more weaknesses he got the better. And all he got was a time limit for his night vision… And the nightvision and cat summoning seemed to be the only times he used divine energy so it was not like it weakened him too much knowing that either.

Regardless, he had a good idea. Maybe there was something alive and sentient there, maybe even a way out. But they'd hardly find anything by just sitting there.

IIIII

The Naruto clone sighed as he rowed. True, Percy could control the sea so he'd row much easier, but he would feel bad leaving all of it to him.

Besides, he had a lot to think about.

A prophecy that he could save the world or doom it… Naruto did not believe in that, but he'd still hate to have one hanging over his head. Especially because it just said "your choices can affect the lives of everyone in the world, so you have the lives of everyone you know on your shoulders, never mind we give no hints on the choice that keeps them safe".

Then suddenly he felt the water shift a bit… but if was helping him row. Blinking out of his thoughts, he saw an island in the distance, right were the current was taking him.

He idly wondered if the water taking them to land from that far away, since he thought it only happened _much_ closer to the land… but he'd rather not look a gift in the mouth right now.

"Hey guys, I see land."

That certainly lifted the moods.

It didn't take them long to reach the island. Naruto let the current help take them to the harbor filled with different kinds of boats and ships, including what Annabeth said was a submarine, and even some flying machines were visible, all while the three looked at a small and peaceful villa, complete with a fountain in the center.

A lady in a blue suit greeted them as they got out of the boat, treating them very kindly. _Too_ kindly, in Naruto's opinion, and the other two seemed to share his opinion this time as she made reserves for them on the "spa" despite them not seemingly having money to pay for it, herbal wrap for Annabeth and complete makeover for the other two. Then she said something about a luau, and the other two's resistance went down.

Naruto wondered if he had some resistance to whatever in these places was tricking the others or if this luau thing was that good to lower their guard, because _everything_ screamed "trap" to him.

He poked Percy's shoulder. "Hey Percy, what's this 'lual' thing?"

The other boy turned to look at him… and froze a bit.

"…what?"

"O-oh, sorry," Percy said. "It's just that, your eyes are a light gray right now, I could have sworn they were blue."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Light gray?"

"Yeah, like… much lighter than Annabeth and the other Athena kids, not that far from a light blue, but it just feels… different."

Naruto nodded. That answered it, he was just using Susanoo's… well, his but Susanoo-taught, illusion-breaking power by instinct.

Which meant that there was _definitively_ something trying to trick them there.

His eyes narrowed. Better to keep a watch on the other two, but not draw attention by breaking it until there was a need to.

The place… really reminded him of the Lotus Casino. White marble and blue water everywhere, terraces with swimming pools climbing a mountain in the island filled with different waterslides connecting them, many fountains, some of them impossible, unnaturally tame animals…

The guests seemed happy, all of the women relaxing, but he wondered if they were not mentally trapped like on the Casino.

As they went up a staircase, they heard a voice singing. The Naruto clone could feel his instinctual defense growing stronger. Thankfully, his divine energy was not used much during the whole bone-wearing-octopus thing.

The pendant blessed by Athena translated the song to him. How she sang about the magic of nature itself, about the things in nature most people ignored, blinded by their view of themselves. He had to resist the urge to give in to the song.  
But this time, it was different. This time, the protections on his mind felt less like Susanoo, and more like Artemis, like he felt a little that time he was talking with the Aphrodite girls the previous year. Like if they were different kinds of illusions…

But it wasn't like anyone in the camp would try to put an illusion on him.

They finally reached a room filled with expensive-looking furniture, one of the walls just windows, the other just mirrors. Naruto had to admit, he liked the effect.

There was a pet cage there too, with some kind of animal hidden inside.

And there was a woman weaving something in there too. Pretty skillfully too, even Naruto not being big on decoration could appreciate it.  
She had been the one singing.

"Beautiful," she heard Annabeth say, drawing the woman's attention.

Her name was C.C., she said, so they said their names. The sound of guinea pigs got agitated by that, drawing Naruto's attention, all the other animals were much calmer than them.

The woman didn't seem to like Percy much, which really seemed to depress the guy… And looked at Naruto with a confused expression.

Naruto raised an eyebrow back, tilting his head.

"You… are a very curious person," she said finally. "I wonder what manner of animal you are, deep inside. I can feel the fierceness, connection to instincts, appetite for freedom and protectiveness of the wolf, the independence, spirit of adventure, curiosity and independence yet enjoyment of company of the cat, the cunning, quick-thinking and mischievousness of the fox… You connect well with all three, but none of them is exclusively your spirit animal... If you were forced to be only one, I wonder which would prevail… Or if one of them would prevail at all…"

She then turned her attention to Percy. "Regardless… you two need my help."

Percy was confused. Why did he get such a cold shoulder, while Naruto got all that spiel?

Meanwhile, C.C. called their guide and asked her to take Annabeth to her treatment, including a change of clothes and hairstyle. To unlock her true self or something.

Apparently he and Naruto required her personal attention, specially him.

He noticed a bit of panic filling Naruto's eyes, yet the guy smiled and hugged Annabeth before she left, saying something in her ear.  
He was so preoccupied with his stomach filling with lead for no reason he knew of that he did not notice her now confused but more alert expression.

The next thing he was aware of, he and Naruto were side by side looking at the wall of mirrors.

"You see, boys ... to unlock your potential, you'll need serious help. The first step is admitting that you're not happy the way you are."

Percy stared, noticing all his imperfections, the small details that he did not usually care for, but that he for some reason did care for that day.

He could see Naruto leaning closer to him to say something in his ear, but C.C. stopped him, saying they had to be their personal musings. But to be honest Percy didn't know if he'd have liked to hear what he had to say right now.

But for some reason… C.C. seemed to be frustrated with Naruto.

"Oh dear, this is not working… Naruto dear, could you give us a minute?"

Naruto tried to talk back, saying he needed to tell Percy something, but Percy was concentrated on his flaws, on what he had to fix.

So Naruto left.

C.C. then turned back to Percy. "How about we try… this."

IIIII

Naruto could feel the magic in the door. As far as he was aware, nothing he could do would let him figure out what was going on inside from out there.

He had a mind to look for Annabeth, but she was smart, she'd figure out what was going on now that she was free. And if he went for her, how would he help Percy?

He was thinking for so long, Annabeth herself arrived.

She was… different. In a silk dress, with made-up hair and make-up…

"You look like someone from Aphrodite's."

"What are you doing out here?" she asked confused, ignoring his words.

"She kicked me out to focus on Percy. And I didn't want to tip her that I wasn't affected by her control.

Annabeth nodded.

"Well, I was told to come talk to her as soon as they finished with me. Do you think you can try to free him too while I distract her?"

Naruto nodded seriously, and hid behind the wall.

With her own nod, Annabeth knocked on the door. "Miss C.C.?"

Annabeth opened the room, and Naruto entered and hid himself as soon as he noticed she was busy with the guinea pigs. Fortunately, it seemed he had been quick enough.

He looked around, while Annabeth tried to distract her asking about Percy and C.C. tried distracting her back by talking about the tour, not finding the male demigod anywhere.

One of the guinea pigs was being very loud ever since he entered though… Was it trying to tell her about him?

Naruto turned to the guinea pig, still keeping an ear as the woman tried to convince Annabeth to become her apprentice or something. It was small. Smaller and better cared for than the others that came out attracted by his sounds.

Then he noticed something hidden under the cage.

Clothes.

Percy's clothes.

Naruto cursed under his breath.

As he thought what to do, he heard C.C. confirm she was Circe, and confirming herself Naruto's suspicions.

She was still trying to recruit Annabeth, claiming that this was the only way she'd be recognized, that Percy would be well-treated as a guinea pig… and, despite her knowing what was going on, her face looked soon as unfocused as Percy's had been before Naruto had been pushed away.

"Let me think about it," he heard Annabeth say. "Just... give me a minute alone. To say goodbye."

"Of course, my dear. I still need to take care of your other friend," Circe said. "I won't take long.  
Oh ... and so you have absolute privacy…"

Iron bars blocked the window wall, and the door was locked from outside.

Annabeth soon came near Naruto, her face back to normal.

"You… are a scarily good actress."

Annabeth shrugged. "Not really. But since I knew about her trying to control our mind, I could concentrate on not being controlled.

What about Percy? Why didn't you break him out of the illusion too before he was turned?" she asked annoyed, looking for the real Percy among the guinea pigs.

"He's the one that doesn't seem like he's been fighting and losing for years," Naruto pointed out. "And I tried. I can't just hug another guy, it is not done usually and she'd know I was doing something. And when I tried to pretent to talk to him about the visions she was giving us she stopped me."

But Annabeth wasn't paying attention, she was taking the vitamins from Percy's clothes and taking one.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked. "Is this the time for this?"

"These are gifts from Hermes. Did you read about Circe yet?"

Naruto nodded, and took a vitamin himself… "Wait, how did he know we were gonna end up here?"

"Apollo gave a tip, probably," she replied. "They are close friends. How long do you think we got?"

"Experience tells me she figured out I disappeared and is running back already to check on you…"

He then ran at high speeds towards the door, and jumped, kicking the door closed right on Circe's face.

"By dose! Da baphdar bwoke by dose!"

Annabeth blanched. "I… _really_ don't think you should have done that. She is one of the strongest known sorceresses ever!"

"That means she focuses her anger on me. Find a way to bring Percy back while I distract her!"

"How?" she asked, "Odysseus forced her to undo the magic, how would we do that?"

Before Naruto could answer, the door _exploded_ open. Luckily it was more force than damage, and the clone did not dispel.

Circe was furious.

"You bastard…" she said, her nose fixed once more. "I was going to make an exception of you. I was going to let you live here, even if as a guard dog. But now… nevermind a guinea pig, I'll turn you into a worm!"

Saying that, blue fire surrounded Naruto, and…

…nothing happened.

"What?" Circe exclaimed, confused. "How?"

Luckily, like Naruto expected, she was so focused on him she did not notice Annabeth hitting her in the legs and making her fall to the ground.

That was the moment when she saw the bottle of multivitamins.

And when her followers started casting magic to defend her, being too surprised before with her fury to do anything.

Naruto jumped over her, running towards them—

"No, stop! They can't hurt you for now, those vitamins make you immune to magic, please don't hurt them!"

Naruto would have skidded on the ground, but a bit of chakra made him stop immediately. He looked at Circe's eyes. She was telling the truth.

He walked backwards from the attendants, and grabbed the multivitamins. That would be useful to have, then.

Meanwhile, Annabeth twisted Circe's arm.

"Turn Percy back to a human or else!"

"I can't!"

Annabeth didn't take long to thing of a second way, though.

"Naruto, if those vitamins make us immune to magic…"

He nodded, and counted the guinea pigs. Even if he knew which was Percy, it wasn't like the others deserved to stay transformed either.

Soon Percy was back, somehow clothed too, together with six other guys, one of them with a pitch-black beard.

"No! You don't understand, those are the worst!"

"I wouldn't be the best if I was turned into a guinea pig either," Naruto countered.

"But you stopped," Circe shot back. "You stopped from hurting the girls when I asked you to! But they won't!"

"And now witch," said the bearded one, with a heavy accent Naruto could not recognize, "the magic of ya lasses cannae stop us anymore. Argggh!"

Annabeth gasped. "I recognize you! Edward Teach, son of Ares?"

"Aye, lass. Though most call me Blackbeard!" He then turned his attention back to Circe, and motioned with his hand. "There's the sorceress what captured us, lads. Run her through, and then I mean to find me a big bowl of celery! Arggggh!"

Circe screamed and jumped away from Annabeth, whose grip slackened with the distraction, and ran from the room with her attendants, followed by the pirates.

Naruto ignored Annabeth and Percy's talk, trying to think about what he heard.

"Naruto, come on! We have to run away while Circe is distracted!"

He nodded, and they went to the harbor, ignoring the pirates destroying everything.

Well, mostly. "Annabeth… who is Blackbeard?"

"He was one of the most feared pirates in the 18th century."

Naruto nodded. He got an idea of what a pirate was, basically a seafaring missing-nin. "What do you think he will do to them?"

"To Circe? He seemed pretty mad…" Percy asked. "Not that I can disagree with him."

"To her, and to the rest of the people in the island," Naruto replied.

"Well, it's not like we can afford to try to do damage control," Annabeth said, callously but truthfully.

They arrived at the harbor, and Naruto grabbed the bow and quiver he had left there earlier while Annabeth grabbed the lance and Percy the shield.

Percy had a gut feeling, and the three went to an older ship, with the writings "Queen Anne's Revenge".

Percy and Annabeth went to board the ship… but Naruto stayed behind.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Percy," he asked seriously, "do you think you two can go on without me? At least until the boss arrives?"

"What… what are you talking about?"

"I can't just leave them like this," Naruto said. "I… I know I said I wouldn't forgive myself if I left you guys to fend by yourself, but I can't just let this go on without anything to control them."

"But Naruto, even you can't hope to fight them all by yourself! Not weakened as you are!" Annabeth said.

The clone just smiled. "Then I'll have to fight smarter instead of harder, won't I? I mean, the worst that can happen is that I fail."

Percy nodded. "Take care. The people on this island are counting on you."

"And Grover is counting on you," the Naruto shot back.

"Argggh!" echoed Blackbeard's voice from somewhere. "Those scalawags are a-boarding me vessel! Get'em, lads!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, and shot an arrow to land between the pirate's feet.

Blackbeard growled, looking at Naruto and the ship leaving them all behind.

"I commend your bravery boy. But do you really think you can escape punishment for this?"

Naruto only grabbed another arrow, spinning it on his hand.

IIIII

"Ok, I'll bite," Luke said, running out of patience. "What is an abandoned pirate ship doing so far in-land?"

Ignoring the outburst, Naruto decided to check the ship itself. "S. S. Invincible… Well, at least it seems to live up to its name, I'm no smith but it seems as good as the Arluq to me…"

"Yar. I don't know what this Arluq is, but this ship was built by sea spirits themselves!"

"I can believe…"

Eyes widening, she young shinobi turned around… and paled.

Between him and Luke was a tall and muscled man, wearing leather boots, pants and muscle shirt and with a red scarf tied to his neck. Adding the master mustache and ponytail, they could swear he was Ares' pirate brother, or maybe a son.

But what made Naruto pale was… the man was transparent, and deathly pale.

"G-g-ghost!"

"C-c-coward!" the ghost mocked, drawing from a pocket and lighting a transparent cigar.

Luke blinked at the exchange.

"…Naruto, didn't you invade the Land of the Dead? Why are you afraid of one dead spirit?"

"Those were mostly spirits of the dead, Castellan. They were where they were supposed to be," Naruto answered, preparing himself to battle, as futile as it would be. The spirit only took a deep drag and blew some smoke to the air. "This here is a ghost. An unstoppable spirit that will not stop unless sealed or driven away by a trained exorcist and can't be harmed and much less killed since it is already dead. All we can do is distract it while trying to run away."

The spirit rolled his eyes. "Did ya ever fight a ghost before, kiddo? Wait, don't answer. Ya obviously didn't."

The ghost took another drag of his spirit cigar.

"For starters, if I was gonna attack ya I'd have already done so," he pointed out. "And since you didn't notice me until I spoke, it'd have been easy. So you have nothing to fear from me."

Naruto calmed down a bit, but still looked at him warily. "Then what are you doing here?"

The spirit looked down on the ground, saddened. "Name's Fargo, captain Fargo. And a captain goes down with the ship. Until someone comes that can take over this lady, I'll stay here with her."

Luke looked around, and at the distance of the ship from the sea. "It'll take a while… doubt many people will arrive here with both the want and the means to take this big a ship to the shore. Or fix it, for the matter."

Fargo scoofed. "The sea always cared for me, even after death. If I asked it, this lady would already be sailing. And she is perfectly fine for it. No, the problem is that I refuse to do it until someone worthy of her arrives and get rid of these pests infesting her."

"Pests?" Naruto asked, confused. "That's your big test?"

"Heh, big words coming from someone like ya."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, getting angry.

Luke blinked. He could have sworn Naruto's eyes flased red.

"Ya'r afraid of ghosts."

"…I'm pretty sure I already said why. And what that has to do with anything?"

"Naruto, I'm pretty sure he meant the 'pests' in there are ghosts."

Naruto blinked. Then looked at Luke. Then back at Fargo.

"…you will stay here for a _while_ if you are waiting for someone able to _get rid of ghosts_ before moving on, old man."

Fargo said nothing, taking a lungful of his cigar and exhaling a big smoke ring.

Naruto's eye twitched.

"I admit, the way ya _think_ ghosts work they seem a bit hard to deal with," Fargo finally said.

"But as I said, ya clearly never fought a ghost for real."

Naruto blinked. "…uh?"

"When I was alive, me an' mah crew used to pretend to be a ghost ship. We even had mist around us for effect.

Then an _actual_ ghost ship took umbrage and attacked us."

Naruto gulped. "Is… is that how you died?"

Fargo just smiled. "Nah, far from it. Actually they were pretty easy for me ta deal with.

Ya see, ghosts are not invincible. They just _don't show_ the damage they take."

Fargo looked at the two teens, knowing he had their attention.

"They're made of some energy slime thing, so when they are damaged they seem to fix themselves, or even that ye attacks go through… but they actually lose some energy. If ya keep hitting, they won't be able to take enough energy and before you notice it they pop like a balloon. Take a while ta come back too, and even more to recover enough ta be a threat again.

But it is kinda hard to fight a ghost army when ya're a ghost too, so…"

"So ya need us to clean the house, tebayo!"

Fargo smirked. "Ya seems much better now."

"Believe it. If I can fight them, then they are not so scary anymore! …I'll just need to remember that while fighting them…"

"But we better be careful," countered Luke. "We are still hurt and weak, and we don't know how many ghosts we'd need to defeat."

"Jus' da big one on the deck," Fargo said. "When da boss is scared away, the others will leave too."

Naruto nodded.

Then he blinked. "Wait, so, if we get rid of the big ghost you'll give us your ship? Just like that?"

Fargo shrugged. "Ta be fair, ya were right, I'm running out of options. And… ya seems like ya really need it. So if ya can do it, I'll take ya home with the S. S. Invincible until I find a worthy captain for it. Better ta look for a worthy one outside this island no one visits."

Naruto nodded, turning to enter the ship.

Then paused, remembering something.

"Oh, we need to stop somewhere first before going home, can you take us there first?"

Fargo shrugged.

Luke looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What, not trusting Jackson to be able to do it by himself? Not that I'd complain taking the Fleece from him earlier, but I was planning to do it _after_ your group left the Sea of Monsters."

Naruto frowned at him. "Just because I trust them to do it, doesn't mean I won't do my best to help them."

Then he started climbing a hanging rope towards an open window or whatever it is called, looking full of a confidence to fight the ghosts he didn't really have.

Luke shrugged and went after him.

Fargo frowned. He was forgetting something…

IIIII

Naruto just sat there, together with the two sisters.

Apparently, even though far from a saint, Blackbeard's cruelty had been… exaggerated. Not that he would ever complain, since he favored intimidation rather than force. But yeah, it seemed like pirates were just naval black ops or something, they attacked the enemies of their countries but were not outright considered naval forces to avoid said enemies being able to use them as excuses to start actual war.

Of course, said reputation worked against him with Circe…

But yeah, he was pissed over Circe's actions, but he just captured the girls and locked them away so they couldn't transform them again after the vitamins' effects ended.

Well, save for the two girls that fought back and almost killed some of the pirates. They decided to consider them, and Naruto, honorary pirates.

Well, _after_ Naruto told them why they stole their ship. Blackbeard was a _very_ pissed at that at the time, but as a demigod himself he agreed saving the camp, and with it many other demigods in training, was a good enough reason to steal a ship.

All in all, despite the island being taken over by a group of pirates and most of the people there being outfitted with magic-dampening collars, it was pretty peaceful.

Which is why everyone was surprised when a piercing cry was heard from inside one of the few restricted places in the island.

"Oh no!" Circe cried, running towards the bonfire the pirates were eating around. "Quick, you need to take this collar off me! Now!"

"And why'd we do it, witch?" asked Blackbeard. But… he hesitated.

In her eyes, she was really afraid of something. And it was not him.

"I… to power the island, I decided to save on magic and caught a creature that generates electricity about a decade ago. It takes less power to hold it in place than to power the whole place. But without my magic holding it in place…"

A crack of lightning was heard, and a piece of the wall of a building exploded.

Something that looked like a dragon mated with a firefly slowly walked out of the hole. And it looked pissed.

Naruto could feel the headache coming. _Of course_ it was a Hunting Grounds monster that he never saw before.

And all he had was a bow and arrow, a weapon he was only good enough with to act as support, not as the main fighter.

IIIII

As the group left the ruins, it was already late at night.

They were happy. They had finally a direction to the Golden Fleece, and it was not that far – even if they had to row to get there.

But… there was something wrong. It felt as if most of the animals were hiding, even the nocturnal ones…

"Down!" Naruto yelled, tackling Clarisse out of the way just in time to avoid the claws of a blue blur.

The feeling of wrongness got everyone alert, but… most of them were used to mythical monsters, monsters with a feeling of wrongness, of unnaturalness. Naruto was the only one that got much experience with monsters that felt as if a part of nature.

They looked at the tree, and there was… a giant, blue owl?

IIIII

"Hey Luke, am I the only one wanting to re-kill Fargo?"

"No, you are not."

The way up wasn't that hard a work… at first glance. Despite still being afraid of the ghosts, Naruto was able to ignore them and attack automatically until they faded from lack of energy. Backbiter fought them just as easily as the younger blond's knives, easier since unlike him Luke wasn't fighting against his own terror.

But the number of ghosts on their way slowed them down, and tired them. So they only arrived on the deck after it was already night and the ghosts were visibly stronger.

And then they merged into one big… blob. The two were pretty sure this would be either the boss ghost or about as strong, so they were ready to fight it.

Which was why they were so surprised when it was slammed and destroyed by a long, pink tail.

They looked from the tail to its owner, a big and long serpent-like monster, with mainly light pink scales save for mane-like dark ones on the neck and on the spine, and with a face that really reminded them of a giant pink fox.

And it looked angry.

IIIII

 **Yeah, next chapter the three Narutos will fight, an Astalos by himself, a Malfestio with a group, and in duo with Luke of all people an enraged Mizutsune. And all but the Mizutsune with just a bow and limited arrows.  
Yes, the Astalos will definitely be the harder one.**

 **I admit, the S. S. Invincible and Fargo were a surprise for me. I was going to make them find the remains of Princess Andromeda ended up there somehow.**

 **As said before, sorry for taking so long. But, you know, studies come first.**

 **And sorry if the first part with Naruto and Luke seem different from the rest. I wrote it while working on my finals papers months ago, while the rest was done this week, so…**


End file.
